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@@Kaynos 'Buffed'. Leopard, Boar, Mastodon, and Lizard have all had their auto-trip ability removed. The Dog, now called the Riding Dog, received a significant buff. If you're looking for a tripping pet, there's only one obvious option now. For the Shield Maze (the focus of this video), Leopard and Boar remain the best choices. The Boar can now take Dodge at level one, making it pretty equal to the Leopard. The Boar is less vulnerable when caught flat-footed, while the Leopard is less likely to be caught flat-footed and is more resistant to touch (spell) attacks. The Boar's new bleed ability can be suprisingly effective early on, as fights are slow and the damage is noticeable. An early hit can cause the target to bleed out over time, even if the rest of the team does nothing. However, trip remains the far better ability throughout the game. So it's a significant nerf. For Act 1 (levels 4-7+), the Leopard is still the best tank. I will review animal companions again, focusing on the midgame, later in the series.

I planned a standard ranged Sohei build with some tech in Act 1, which I'll discuss later in my actual playthrough. The key breakpoints for Sohei are levels 6, 11, and 12: At level 6, you can use Flurry of Blows with weapons from your Weapon Training group, gaining +1 attack at full BAB, +2 with Ki: Extra Attack. At level 11, you get an additional attack from Flurry of Blows. At level 12, you gain another Weapon Training group. After this, switch to a different class that boosts attack bonus and damage for your extra attacks. Demonslayer and Mutation Warrior are common choices. A three-level dip into Sacred Huntmaster can also be good for Outflank, Hunter's Tactics, pet continuation, and extra initiative. For mythic paths, Aeon, Demon, and Trickster are viable options, with Trickster into Legend being optimal. If you go Legend, ensure you take Mythic Deadly Aim at your second mythic rank, as you lose all other Mythic Abilties and Mythic Deadly Aim is a ton of damage with Legend BAB. For class progression, a likely pattern is: 11/12 Sohei > 3 Huntmaster > 1 Demonslayer > 5 Mutation Warrior > remaining levels in Demonslayer (> 1 flex level.} Choosing between level 11 or 12 depends on your weapon choice. I considered three paths: Composite Longbow: Least feat-intensive and thus best early on. High cap with Killing Blow (half mobility to damage Longbow). Legend get's 20 extra levels of skill points after all. Throwing Axes: Works with Skald's Lethal Stance and Lethal Accuracy, synergizing with Trickster Feats. More feat-intensive, requiring both ranged and two-weapon fighting feats. Suggested path: pick Weapon Training (Bow) at level 6, then pick Weapon Training (Throwing Weapons) at Sohei 12 or MW 5. (Level pattern 6 Sohei > 5 MW > 5 Sohei) Afterward, focus on crit feats and remaining two-weapon fighting and ranged feats. Once your Legend you can get everything and cap out. Javelins: Requires Advanced Weapon Training: Effortless Dual Wielding to use two-weapon fighting with Javelins, available as a feat once you reach MW 5. Advantage: Bane Javelin available in Drezen, which synergizes with multiple attacks. Race and Background: Normally, choose Pickpocket or Mhanwi Hunter if you use Throwing Weapons. Kitsune used to be good for Master Shapeshifter interaction, but now it's any polymorph spell will proc it (like Animal Aspect). So no reason to go Kitsune unless you already made character art for it. Human is (as always) superior: dump CHA and INT (Human gets a free extra skill), and aim for 16 STR, 19 DEX, 12 CON, and 14 WIS (or mb it's 12 WIS and CON, to lazy to count). Another interesting build: Child of the Manticore (4) into Sohei (11) into Mutation Warrior. Tehnically a ranged Sohei build. Haven't looked deep into this.

@@DjaliPlays Thanks will do.

@@rafaszmuda669 Thanks! Now I'm racking my brain as to why this hasn't come up before or how I failed to notice it, given that delay poison (communal) is a staple for me. Also, the other spells and immunities.. I probably just forgot or wasn't paying attention. Wouldn't be the first time. I will find out as I continue the playthrough.

@@DjaliPlays Btw i wonder would you be able to keep this style with sheets and explanation s game go on considering that buffs will be going in dozens later on and enemy sheet will be so choked with effects that its hard to even dig up source of his immunities from massive pile? It made it absolutely amazing as i can easily dig and incorporate parts i need (most creators only do whole stuff without taking time to explain each part in detail). Looking forward to next episodes xD. EDIT: As for not noticing it's probably to be expected as dretches are afaik only enemy that use it and act 3 and forward you gonna meet pretty much only 1 dretch who just happened to be only one who doesnt start meeting with stinking cloud.

@@genehenson8851 Unfair. As you can see by the stat numbers of the monsters.

Thanks for the feedback. I probably won't include voice audio for a bit. It was the most time-consuming part of making the early videos, and I want to move forward with the playthrough. Soon, I'll have to set this project aside for a brief while again. But I'll keep it in mind for later.

That's indeed a very powerful combo. And can transition in more then one build. I plan to do some stealth gameplay in a section of this playthrough and was planning to briefly mention the Witch of the Veil (as THE stealth build). I'm glad to hear my video was helpful to you. Animal companions are indeed very powerful, especially early on. Note that the Mastodon, like the Boar and the Leopard, lost its built-in trip ability on attack in the patch that came with the Dance of Masks DLC. That video is now outdated, despite being just a couple of months old.

@@DjaliPlays I originally followed a guide for a Sword Saint build which, unfortunately, is also outdated. I am unsure what path to take onwards. There is the pure "sniper" build by going vivi, for instance. However I want to slowly progress into a melee focused build with a dip into scaled fist / dragon disciple / slayer and maybe sword saint for a unique weapon proficiency. If you have any tips, I would welcome it. When it comes to pets, I still thinks Mastadon is one of the more unique ones. I especially like the idea of Seelah riding one, giving it an Indian war elephant vibe which I love.

If it's a sword saint trickster build, then it's very outdated indeed. That build exploited a bug that was fixed over two years ago. In the past, the interaction between Vital Strike and critical hits was multiplicative, but now it's additive. Suppose you have a 2d8 weapon, Greater Vital Strike (GVS), and a critical multiplier of 3, and you score a critical hit. Currently, you would deal: (4 + 3) * 2d8 = 14d8 weapon damage. In the past, you would have dealt: (4 * 3) * 2d8 = 24d8. If you increase weapon dice with size buffs and Lead Blades (which a magus has), and increase the critical multiplier (with sword saint's Perfect Strike and trickster feats), these numbers become absurd. For example: A 1d12 weapon becomes 3d6 with Legendary Proportions and further increases to 6d6 with Lead Blades. Critical multiplier: 3 + 1 (I.I.I. Critical I.) + 1 (Perfect Strike) = 5 In the past: (5 * 4) * 6d6 = 120d6 Now: (5 + 4) * 6d6 = 54d6 However, since this has been fixed, critical hits are no more effective on Vital Strike than on a regular full attack, actually worse. The best way to scale Vital Strike now is to combine it with sneak attack damage using Vital Force. The reason to still go trickster is that it allows you to use your spare feats for the critical line (since Vital Strike is not feat-intensive), it provides some sneak attack damage, and there's no other good options except maybe demon for melee (since demon charge, being a move action, synergizes with melee Vital Strike). Demon can get some extra sneak through Babau aspect as well. Before the Dance of Masks patch, the arguably best mythic path for Vital Strike was Demon due to the Coloxxus aspect allowing you to Vital Strike twice in one turn. However, that has since been changed and doesn't work anymore. Demon is probably still the best for melee because of the demon charge ability and the fact that Trickster also got nerfed. All said, late game, Vital Strike is simply weak right now. It's more of a tempo build; very good early due to how early you can get it (with Rowdy and with Loremaster). I believe the strongest Rowdy Veil build likely transitions into a spell caster later. But I'm not sure how to best build that. Regarding the Witch of the Veil and melee combat, they don't synergize well because you're likely to be detected in melee range. As for the Vivisectionist, there's a huge problem. It cannot get GVS through Loremaster, and being a 3/4 BAB class, it reaches a maximum BAB of 15 (13 with the Rowdy Veil dips), falling short of the 16 required for GVS. Instead, consider looking into the Cult Leader or Shadow Shaman classes. The War Priest can access GVS through Loremaster or normally, as its class levels count as BAB for feat prerequisites. The Shadow Shaman can acquire GVS through Loremaster. Both classes also offer excellent personal spells for melee combat. (For example: Divine Power both, Eagle Soul Warpriest, Frightful Aspect and Ice Body Shaman ).

@@DjaliPlays Wow you really know your way around this game, don't you? Thank you so much for the tips. I'll take them to heart. What do you think about dipping into scale fist?

@@DjaliPlays I was thinking of going Sword Saint from lvl 4 eventually having 7 levels in it, and 10 levels in duelist for a stacking Canny Defence bonus, coupled with greater nondetection to use in accord with shrouded step. I have no idea whether it affects enemies' chance to hit me. Maybe you have thoughts about this?

The old version of the Cultist Champion encounter video is private due to a mistake in the slides that I initially overlooked. I'll remove it from the playlist. The other videos were me uploading the same content four times in a row, each time messing something up and then deleting them permanently. (I'm new at this). Although they're gone, they remain in the playlist. I'll see if I can fix that. Edit: Alright, should be cleaned up now. Thanks for bringing it to my attention.

@@DjaliPlays oh thx for explaining it. I'm looking forward for next episode i really love the style with all this sheets on entry to each episode (altrough would be nice if tehre was some non-intrusive background music in this phase altrough that might just be my own hate for silence xD)

I've been through this process three times (had a change of heart a couple of times), going through many ambushes each time. The ambushes in the Shield Maze are really weak-either a couple insects or a lvl1 Baphomet Cultist. You don't need your whole party or buffs to easily clear them. Even if surprised, the worst that happens is a companion gets hit once and contracts a disease. Due to the way I was positioned this ended up being Camellia every time. The Cultist is actually the easier fight. He tends to spawn further away, is slow, and prebuffs (I think; I almost always kill him in round 1). He also drops better loot. However, later in the game, ambushes become very dangerous due to the increased reliance on buffs (as you are probably aware).

​@@DjaliPlays Ya, later in the game, especially if your guards fail their checks you are almost 100% doomed D Still, the fact you can safely rest in maze makes LA unfair a bit more realistic in my eyes)

I keep restarting runs, so I've become quite familiar with the Shield Maze. I've also done some tests on a different save before this run. This kind of behavior is also pretty normal for enemies with AoE abilities. For example, the Alchemist in the Grey Garrison (the one giving some kind of lecture and dropping the +2 Dex belt) will only throw bombs if you're clumped up.

I plan to correct and update the graphs, as I found a mistake. Once done, I'll post them in the video description and add explanatory notes.

Fair point. I focused on early-game, so I didn't go in depth into late-game considerations, but this is something well worth mentioning. Honestly, with all the changes in the last patch, I might make a new, more general video sometime in the future. Maybe when I get to selecting a mount for Seelah (I decided to keep her full paladin for the Shield Maze after all, to keep the choice flexible). (Edit: I thought this reply was to the Animal Companion video). As for being the best, it’s a trade-off: tankiness and auto-trip on the animal companion versus more damage on the rider. Also if you already use Frightful Aspect over Legendary Proportions on the rider, there’s obviously no issue. So it depends. If I have the ability to buff the rider with Frightful Aspect, I would in many cases prefer the Riding Dog on the current patch (or Boar in the last one). Trip is good, and the Frightful Aspect and Dirge auras can be (or used to be) unreliable* in some dungeons; having Frightful Aspect on the Shatter Defenses melee character themselves guarantees it’s applied to the enemy they're targeting. *Corners and elevation changes can prevent the aura from applying correctly, sometimes only working when right next to the enemy. This issue affects not just Dirge of Doom, which requires line of sight, but also sometimes Frightful Aspect. At least, that was my experience when I played about two years ago. It would need further testing.

Video coming this evening or tomorrow. Was busy with RL stuff and they take time.

@@DjaliPlays ok, no need to hurry. I was just wondering if the project had been cancelled.

It's simply information. That's what this episode was: a Deep Dive into one specific ability. Don't you worry, there will be plenty of 'problem solving' throughout the series. Both tactical in fight encounters and more strategic with choosing party composition, classes and preparing for the various difficulty spikes throughout the game. If I wanted to pick one exploit/cheese and use it to solve the whole game, I'd have done a solo veiled Witch run. As for terminology, WOTR (idk about tabletop of either PF or D&D) doesn't have it. Easier to say and think one word than a whole sentence. I'm sorry this upset you. It also has very little to do with anything else you said.

Talk for your self. I for one absolutely love optimizing a game to the point of breaking it! I think its the ultimate freedom of choice. If you don't like this, its literally just as simple as not using it. I however am glad someone did a video on this!

It would look better but it wouldn't make sense. You can only roll integers. A scatter plot would imo be more suitable.

You're right, I'll take it into consideration for the next video. Thanks for the feedback. My only concern with using a scatter plot would be that, with multiple data series, the visual trend might become harder to follow.