Well, I am going to give it a shot. Plan to use sneak to get my party into position, three ranged preferring high ground. The rogue will invis and go in to start the fight.
Sebille RANGE
Warfare (max), Hunstman (max)
Executioner, All Skilled Up, Bigger and Better, Far Out Man, Guerrilla
Finesse
Persuasion
Ifan RANGE
Warfare (max), Hunstman (max)
Executioner, All Skilled Up, Bigger and Better, Far Out Man, Guerrilla
Finesse
Sneak
Fane DUAL DAGGERS
Warfare (max), Scoundrel (max), Poly (1), Geo (1)
Executioner, All Skilled Up, Bigger and Better, Comeback Kid, Opportunist
Finesse
Thievery
Lohse RANGE
Summon (Max), Hydro (Max)
Executioner, All Skilled Up, Bigger and Better, Far Out Man, Guerrilla
Finesse
Lucky Charm
Hey buddy,
Let me know how that is coming along. As for your questions:
Scoundrel: you are right in that both Adrenaline and Cloak & Dagger are very useful. The former gives you that extra burst, but the latter is just another variant of Tactical Retreat/Phoenix Strike. Those skills are of course useful, but personally I felt like having Tactical Retreat and Phoenix Strike was enough for me. As you divest more points from your main trees you start seeing diminishing returns on these investments because you are losing damage and you are only occasionally making use of these situational abilities. E.g. you could use your 1 spare AP to move positions or you could carry it over to deliver another shot the following round. So I would say that it is not worth sparing four points, simply because you would not need that CC/extra backup because you have already killed your enemies and the fight is over.
Mind you, I made extensive use of Haste, PoM and C&D on my Ranger throughout the game, but only because I got the +skill from an item and I had saved all my skill books. If you have it - great, make use of it - but if you do not it is not a biggie. I would certainly not deviate from my main build to include these situational buffs. Furthermore, keep your eye out on Necromancer. Again, I would not put any points into it, but the healing you get from it even at level one from an item is absolutely insane given that you are running a pure damage build.
Far Out Man: yes, I am sworn to this. Will be including this in any ranged build going forward. It is very strong offensively because you do not have to spend AP on moving and it is also very strong defensively because enemies have to spend AP to get into your range. Also, for Ranger it scales with Assassinate / Ballistic Shot, so there. Also, how come you are using the basic attack so much? Make sure you get all those skill books!
Guerrilla: it is a matter of playstyle. I think it incredibly powerful on higher difficulties, but if you are just minded on getting through the game without investing much thought to setting up each individual encounter then it is probably not worth the point.
As for having a tank: I did my first playthrough with a "tank", but ultimately my impression was that he was always the last dude alive, not having done shit, while the rest of my party was dead. And then he dies, having been a total dead weight during the encounter. I would much rather have another damage dealer because there is no reliable way of directing damage to your tank in this game (purely because Taunt is blocked by physical armour, unlike in the first game).
As for Wits/Finesse: Initiative is weak in this game because of the combat system consists of alternating turns, meaning that the two sides (and neutral) always alternate turns in combat. Meaning that if you have 1,2,3,4 initiative and your enemies has 7,8,9,10 initiative then the order of the combat will be 10,4,9,3,8,2,7,1 (someone correct me if I am wrong on this). So there is no real point in investing into it. Finesse, however, is pure damage.
As for your new comp... Looks good, let me know how it works out! But why Bigger and Better and All Skilled Up? These are very weak talents. I would much rather recommend at least A Picture of Health.
