"Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire", Shield and Sword.
"You talk about magic? Tell me, what does a mage do when his mana and spells run dry in a prolonged battle? My blades are always with me!"
Drizzt Do'Urden
One of the main issues in nonlinear RPGs is the choice of weapons and armor: what to fight with and which weapon skill tree to develop; which armor is better? What if something more effective comes up later, where to find it? I’ve already answered the question of "where to search" in previous articles (here I will remind partially); in this material, I will attempt to answer the questions: what to equip and what is best to fight with.
I must warn you: the description does not include weapons and gear found on the "Ship of Wonders": I accidentally boarded it in the first part of the game, and for some reason did not load the "save file". It’s very possible that something outstanding is still aboard; I will check next time. Let’s begin!
And let’s start with the most common weapon in the world of "[Pillars of Eternity](/games?search=Pillars of Eternity) II: Deadfire" - sabers. However, outstanding specimens do not come by easily, nonetheless... The attack and recovery time are almost identical, as is the damage, let’s pay attention to the additional properties.
"Eldris's Raven Blade" deals additional damage and heals its owner on a successful hit - first place! Paired with it are "Grave Call" and "Tarn's Breather" - extra cold damage.
If the hero is a melee singer, then he will benefit from "Sasha's Singing Saber". Other sabers are not worth buying or upgrading at all.
The best chain is "Skullbreaker", thanks to its negligible chance to knock the target down.
However, "Skullbreaker" is the only (alas!) weapon with that property. The damage of chains is less than that of sabers, but the action speed is higher; this chain can be combined with the saber "Eldris's Raven Blade". Among maces, "Icebreaker" is the best; but it is extremely hard to obtain: only after defeating a dragon.
The best two-handed axe "Amra" is located in Dunnedge; particularly effective in the hands of a warrior with strength 25 (20 – aumaua, +2 – "Gloves of Ogre Strength", +3 "Glazed Ribs", +4 "Smoked Ribs").
Among one-handed swords, "Dusk" is good, thanks to the attack speed bonus;
"Whisper of Yenwood" (can be restored from ruins in Nekitaka; damage bonus)
and the unique "Modwir" (spiritual link, the fastest of the swords, requires no ingredients for upgrades).
Two-handed swords: "Effort" (damage bonus) and, perhaps, "Whisper of Endless Paths" (constant damage is low, compensated by swing frequency and damage bonuses).
Clubs: "Kapana-taga".
It is difficult to say what this weapon represented in reality – a club or a sword? Most likely, a sword; after all, Aztec warriors used it to behead enemies, and it was known as macuahuitl. (Different damage and chance to stun.)
Dagger options are generally not worth it, the damage is too low, better to take the single rapier due to the attack speed bonus. Overall, in this part of the game compared to the previous one there are significantly fewer weapons: spear and halberd are in single copies. However, there is another unique spear; but it cannot be upgraded!
The dagger "Marux Amant" with spiritual link:
has less damage than its "unbound" counterparts; slightly higher attack speed; however, there are completely absurd requirements for upgrading: "deal such and such amount of fire damage" - with a weapon that does not deal fire damage. And Edér was throwing fire bombs...
"Lord Darrin's Halberd" is mentioned a bit below: poleaxe; but upon closer inspection – an ordinary shooting bardiche.
Damage is less than that of a saber, but the attack and recovery time is the fastest of all two-handed weapons. Plus strange additional properties... It's up to you! By the way, it does not require gold for upgrades.
Two-handed flails deal less damage than axes, swords, and battle staves.
The best of the staves is the "Chrono-Prismatic"; however, for its optimal use, "Metaphysics" must be developed to the limit.
Wands and scepters have never attracted me, in my team, we only had mages by accident.
I will say the same about arquebuses: the damage is significant, but the reload time is unacceptable.
Pistols are another matter; they are one-handed, the damage is less than that of an arquebus, but the hero can have a pistol in each hand: which speeds up reload time and allows hitting the most armored foes.
The best are "Scordeo's Reward" and "Thunderbolt Pistol".
Bows… The creators of "[Pillars of Eternity](/games?search=Pillars of Eternity) II: Deadfire" have once again stepped on the same rake as in the previous part: they somehow believe that upgrading a bow requires twice as many ingredients as upgrading a sword or spear; it's necessary to approach their upgrade with extreme caution: the number of components is limited, and the best ones are not for sale!
Strangely enough, hunting bows surpass battle ones in all parameters; particularly remarkable is the "Aura Destroyer", whose damage depends on the "Metaphysics" rating.
Let’s move on to defense!
Shields: I will highlight two of them (both located in Nekitaka): "Tuotilo's Palm" and "Blessing of Magran"; besides defensive properties, they can be used as weapons, dealing damage to enemies.
The best of the light armors is "Healing Flesh"; a combination of high defense class and regeneration. Worth noting are "Pale Skin" and "Rogue's Leather".
Medium armors: "Rainbow Armor" (calls an ally into battle) and "Devil’s Breastplate from Karak" (reduced recovery time).
Heavy armors: "Mad Brigandine" increases action speed in melee; the other types of armor are rather unremarkable.
What else can be said about armor and weapons? If you chose the "Story" difficulty, hardly anyone will need armor heavier than medium, and you don’t need to upgrade it. (The exception is battles against bosses; here it is more beneficial for front-line warriors to be equipped with heavy armor.)
At the "Story" and "Easy" levels, shields are not needed; one sword in each hand will be much more effective.
"Veteran" and "Path of the Cursed" imply the heaviest armor for front-line warriors, and necessarily with shields: two-handed weapons will lead to unreasonably fast deaths of the party.
"Left out" are belts, helmets, rings, amulets, gloves, and cloaks. However, there are so many of these in the game that it is impossible to describe all of them. Nevertheless, I will try to describe the most interesting ones during the next playthrough. Good luck to all of you!