Well, like Lacrymas, I have not finished this yet. Reached level 16 though, yay!
...and decided to go back to an earlier character, who was 12. Now 14.
Maybe in a month or so, will have a look at the new DLC.
Enjoying every minute though.
One of the mechanic quirks I find exciting are the interactions of item abilities in PoE2. You know, we always had spell-like abilities in various RPGs. And spell scrolls. And spell clickies.
But Deadfire takes it to next level IMO. Abilities/spells cast by weapons inherit all the relevant weapon properties.
Take scimitar Grave Calling for example. It has one enchantment which allows it to stack 2% freeze lash per hit, up to 10 stacks (or 15 on alternate upgrade path) and upgrade which lets it paralyze enemies on crit when at max stacks. Lash bonus damage is nice (multiplicative with other sources), but its nothing spectacular, right?
Well there is another upgrade, which spawns a foe-only Chillfog when you kill a vessel (a wide category, which encompasses undead and constructs) with Grave Calling (used to be regardless of killing tool/spell, but its fixed now). Well, that Chillfog will inherit all bonuses from the sabre (Legendary quality for +60% damage and +12 Accuracy, might bonus; sneak attack bonus, soul whip bonus - if applicable; plus power level bonus). So it's pretty deadly, with some modifiers it reaches about 30 damage per tick (plus blinds enemies). Better yet, it's aoe hits per tick stack the freeze lash on Grave Calling and with 10 stacks, the aoe, foe-only blinding Chill Fog also paralyzes enemies on crit. Also vessels killed by the fog will spawn additional fogs... Quite insane really.
Also nice is that it is still a "weapon ability" and as such will continuously charge Focus if you're playing a Cipher.
Well, you may think that while cool, the application is limited, since it only helps in encounters with vessel enemies present. While theoretically true, a Chanter can summon skeletons with an invocation plus passively with a high-level Chant. You unfortunately have to kill them manually (unless you can become confused with Berserker rage, rogue Sap or enemy caster reflecting confused at you, then it's much simpler - as your Chillfogs will butcher friendlies, including summons), but it's well worth the effort, IMO. I find it helps to soften them with a fireball first (summon them into enemy ranks to engage and fireball both friend and foe) and then kill each one with 1 blow (of course doesn't always work and the timing is also tricky sometimes, as the duration isn't very long).