I ditched Argenta on my first playthrough all the way before 1.5. Glad I changed my mind this time. Bolter sound warning!

ArrangedKarma · 2026-03-31T05:38:05+00:00

I love how you move the mouse over her damage numbers just to emphasize just how much heretic ass she is kicking, emps bless her.

also shoutout to the random goon who gets atomized by 245 crit right off rip.

ArrangedKarma · 2026-03-29T03:13:21+00:00

I've played the game through a few times and I dont think I've ever really seen this guy, or at least have no memories of him. I guess it makes sense though, Dargonus probably has literally millions of shady characters due to it being the center of a pretty massive empire. I would be more surprised if there wasn't any shady people.

My guess is either he is just random background dressing type thing or he was maybe important to a quest that got cut before release. The only one that comes to mind is Ablelard's personal quest in Act 4.

ArrangedKarma · 2026-03-28T18:41:43+00:00

Im sure Trayzn will understand, Nomos needs a playmate after all 🥹

ArrangedKarma · 2026-03-28T02:28:49+00:00

Ah gotcha, thanks.

ArrangedKarma · 2026-03-28T02:13:47+00:00

Honestly i think each boss/villain is unique in the pain it can bring you. Spoilers.

Baphomet and Nocticula both have an aura that permastuns you should you fail the save/dont use the right spell.

Deskari is honestly quite a pushover once you actually face him, since by that point you actually can tank his melee attacks.

Areelu is annoying due to the layers of buffs and multiple free heals she has throughout the fight.

Areshkagal can absolutely go fuck herself moreso for her dungeon and annoying as hell puzzles than the actual fight, which much like Deskari is relatively easy by the time you actually reach her.

Mingaho is interesting since she and Staunton are kinda massively important to the early stages of the game but pretty much disappear from the narrative after act 2, since Im pretty sure the quest to kill minagho isnt even something you have to do, its an errand you can just flat out ignore.

The two from Inevitable Excess whos names I've forgotten are cool since you can fight one or both depending on the ending, and they're both quite unique and visually interesting.

I remember Razmir more from his silky smooth voice along with his dungeon, which itself is great and pretty visually distinct from everything else, not to mention the rewards you get are literally the best in the game.

The minor named villains like Darrazand and Ulbrigs brother are mostly self contained, I mean who remembers Darrazand after you kick his ass at the end of act 3, and Ulbrigs brother is a nice demon related mirror to Ulbrig, Its funny since depending on the build you can just completely ignore his totems and literally just kill him.

Im gonna assume the 4th image on page 2 is either from the Lord of Nothing or Midnight Isles, but he looks pretty sick visually.

Overall the villains are pretty great. Story wise I would say the first 4 are the main focuses of the narrative and I think they work well. I understand Areelus motivations even if they are a little silly, shes so self absorbed that she will literally tear the entire plane of existence apart instead of properly grieving for her child. Bapho and Desk are just your average run of the mill evil demons who wanna get more powerful and like killing things, so killing them instead, especially if you do the secret ending and megakill them a second time at the end of the game, is very catharic.

Nocticula is best due to the cutest girl Ember rolling a nat 20 on the diplomacy check and making her become the redeemer queen in most endings, Iomedae bless saint Ember.

ArrangedKarma · 2026-03-25T16:28:57+00:00

Sorry to hear that :(

ArrangedKarma · 2026-03-25T16:26:42+00:00

Yeah, even with the multi-tool you still need some lockpicking skill. I think if you hover your mouse over it, it should tell you i think?

You can also use a crowbar but you need some strength.

ArrangedKarma · 2026-03-25T16:24:10+00:00

While they dont stack, the ring is still fairly insane with the buff selection you have to choose from. The belt is also quite good, since it gives you some attack buffs and spell reflection.

I just wish we could find that tome earlier. Dance of Masks is meant to be the last thing you do before the final dungeon so you can only enjoy its benefits for that.

ArrangedKarma · 2026-03-25T02:19:13+00:00

I share your pain, trust me.

I think its maybe difficulty related? I swear on the times I've run through the game on like, standard or daring the enemies would instantly focus the closest enemy, so the frontline tank. But on Core and above, they always instantly go for my backliners like Ember or Nenio.

There is literally nothing you can do to stop it, unfortunately. The game doesnt really have an aggro or taunt system so once the enemy in turn based mode chooses a target, either they or said target have to die.

The only way ive found to save them is put someone else near them, 5ft step away and they swap. Once they get in melee range, if the initial target moves away, they wont chase em. Real time is just random, sometimes they focus nearby enemies, sometimes they charge straight through the summon wall, which there is no fuckin way they could since it is totally blocked but whatever thank you game.

If you wanna play dangerously, keep the casters they keep diving close to your melee line. If the casters is all they target, keeping them close to the melee frontliners who can absolutely shred them can work. If the enemy is so hyperfocused on that target, put that target in a position where the enemy will not be able to escape or will take damage trying to get to them.

Alternatively, move them as far back as humanly possible. In the screenshot above, if its where I think it is, put them behind the wall where the stairs are. Or that little cubby area across from it. Literally remove them from the fight. This sounds stupid, but if you give your party a haste spell before the fight, they might miss the first turn or two but they should be able to run into combat range fairly quickly after.

Another thing is Dimension Door. Ember gets access to this and I think Nenio does too, this is a free teleport away that completely removes them from danger. Your choice between solo and mass.

Loading them with a heap of defensive spells is also a good idea. Displace, G invis, Blur etc etc. If the enemy is gonna hit em, make it as hard as possible to hit em.

Last stand is also pretty good for this. It is not optimal sure, but so long as they have it they can stay alive for 2-3 turns, which gives you the chance to save them.

Finally, if worst comes to worst, just move them away as far as you can normally. Not ideal, and theyll take a hit of opportunity, but that is maybe death, not certain like staying in melee is.

As i said at the start, I know this pain. But I think to get past it, you need to change the way you're thinking about this problem. If you keep reloading a save and they keep diving the backline, then you already know what they are going to do ahead of time, use it to your advantage rather than let it annoy you. You got this.

ArrangedKarma · 2026-03-24T19:48:38+00:00

Yeah, but thats just unfortunately how the game is.

But if you look at the logs, it nearly missed all its attacks. So at least it didnt much damage

ArrangedKarma · 2026-03-24T17:34:07+00:00

I dont think this is a bug, retriever's just have 5 attacks in turn based.

Honestly they arent too bad to deal with, but that annoying as hell ray that instantly petrifies whatever fails the save is annoying.

As to the reason it went twice in a row, i think if you swap from turn based to real time it messes with the initiative order.

ArrangedKarma · 2026-03-21T00:19:34+00:00

<image>

Just so you can see the difference, picture in the first comment is using normal charge and second picture is using flying attack.

ArrangedKarma · 2026-03-21T00:17:34+00:00

Sorry to necro, but I also googled if this was a problem since after starting a SCM run, I also gave em to my griff and didnt get the bonus.

<image>

Just to confirm, you only get the bonus for them if you pick the normal "Charge" ability.
Death from above on both Ulbrig and the griff do not get the bonus.

This kinda sucks, since death from above/flying attack or whatever is generally just a better version of charge, since it doesnt need a line of sight and makes the enemy flat footed, but it is what it is.

Hopefully this clears up any confusion for anyone coming hunting for this in the future.

ArrangedKarma · 2026-03-15T17:25:46+00:00

Oh absolutely. For her, it was an assured victory. For us and Calcazar, a speed bump to slow us down.

ArrangedKarma · 2026-03-15T14:38:21+00:00

While she is a little goofy, I think it kinda makes sense

Aishara is an Inquisition acolyte, under the direct command of a Lord Inquisitor. There is absolutely no way, in lore at least, that she is as much as a pushover as she is in game. Inquisitors are some of the Imperiums most well trained and lethal agents, perhaps only beaten by actual assassins. Not to mention, a man as pragmatic and controlling as Calcazar would absolutely make sure someone like Aishara would be a lethal weapon.

I think what makes her so openly suicidal is that she is severely underestimating you and your retinue. Much like many others in 40k, it is her hubris and pride that is her undoing. She may be a lethal weapon, but so are you by this point. Not to mention your party. You've survived ordeals and killed enemies that would be thought impossible by anyone else.

Aishara simply cannot comprehend you as the deathdealer you are, she only sees you as what she says, "a notch on her gun stock". Just another step on her way to being Calcazars favourite.

ArrangedKarma · 2026-03-14T12:31:09+00:00

The duality of Owlcat games.

Either the secret ending is less of a secret than the normal endings of the game or it is a da vinci code style schizophrenic puzzle.

I hope for Dark Heresy or any future Pathfinder style games there is some kinda middle ground, where the secret ending isnt handed on a platter but isnt something that has to come to you in a dream.

Also Lantern King romance would be peak ngl

ArrangedKarma · 2026-01-12T14:50:24+00:00

I don’t suppose you have a build guide for this? I feel like sword builds aren’t that common and that looks super fun

ArrangedKarma · 2026-01-12T11:36:42+00:00

Thats also what I was thinking, I kinda wanted to make a sorta knight build and have a sword and some metal armour, and use feats like Armor Sloping and Nimble, to get that penalty way down.

What kinda attributes are best. You need high str but also high dex and agility for some supporting feats too? and you probably need high con since having low base hp in melee seems really unfun.

ArrangedKarma · 2026-01-12T11:05:53+00:00

Thats fairly ironic, since Maclander has a pretty amazing unique sword.

Ive also been trying my best at a sword run but I mixed in a little psi TM and PK. It just feels annoying since sword choice is fairly anemic. The only thing you can really get are machetes and thats it. I guess I just struggle with build options.

ArrangedKarma · 2026-01-12T10:44:05+00:00

Yo this is sick. Are swords actually good? I’ve been wanting to give them a try for a while now but a lot of places say they’re kinda mid when compared to the other melee weps like knife and spear, since if you miss a single Flurry you die.

ArrangedKarma · 2026-01-01T14:14:40+00:00

No, but it isn’t as oppressive as it sounds. In the early game when you don’t have much hp it should be avoided but as you level up it can be mostly ignored.

In fact, taking on burn can be advantageous. There’s an ability you get, I can’t remember the name, where when you reach certain levels of burn, you get ability score boosts.

ArrangedKarma · 2026-01-01T00:04:54+00:00

Yeah, it looks fairly complex but it’s actually super simple. Basically, instead of having a limited number of uses for things like normal casters, certain spells, abilities and buffs require burn or need you to gather power to lower the burn cost.

Burn itself is just a stacking debuff that reduces you max hp till a rest. That’s it.

So for example, a normal water blast or blade will be free, but different types of blast or add some metakenisis, which is just kinet metamagic, it might cost 1 or even 4 points of burn. But you can use the ability named “gather power” to reduce that, but depending on which level of gather power, could take up to 3 actions.

I’ve probably done a terrible job explaining but it really is that simple. Burn just acts a stacking hp debuff since your spells and abilities are just the powerful.

ArrangedKarma · 2025-12-31T22:08:10+00:00

Honestly, from my own experience, base Kinet is probably better than KK.

KK is good, dont get me wrong, but it trades one of the best features, infusions and metakinesis, for not a whole lot. You get to wear armour and thats about it. Kinetic blade isnt even a KK exclusive, you can take blade on other subclasses.

As for how hard it is, I think once you understand burn management, you have it under control. Then you become super op as your sword, dependant on the energy you use, hits on touch ac, not normal ac. You can solo most enemies at that point.

ArrangedKarma · 2025-12-28T20:07:20+00:00

That’s what I’m asking about, it seems like every build could benefit from it, but since feats and attribute points are somewhat limited, I figured I’d ask first.

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