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| Pillars of Eternity 2 Online Walkthrough by David Milward |
XOTI, F HUMAN CONTEMPLATIVE (SISTER OF THE REAPING MOON / HARVESTER OF GAUN)
Stats
Abilities
1st Level - Swift Strikes: A starting ability by default. The boosts to Action Speed are valuable, as they allow Xoti to get off spell after spell in rapid succession. And it's a buff that can get prolonged indefinitely through the use of Salvation of Time plus the Brilliant Inspiration.
Blessed Harvest: A starting ability by default. It scores more Damage the less Health the target has. That can make it useful with the resource-regenerating emphasis of both the Sisters of the Reaping Moon Monk, and Xoti's Lantern. I rarely used it, but that was because I tended to play Xoti in a quite different style.
Restore: A starting ability by default. And among first-level spells I tend to use it more often. The healing it provides gets boosted by several of Xoti's items, as well as the Dawnstar's Blessing that she'll acquire in the Temple of Gaun.
2nd Level - Lesser Wounds: A staple for any Monk to acquire Wounds as rapidly as possible.
3rd Level - Suppress Affliction: It won't prevent new hostile effects, it only suppresses ones that were already in place, which can still be very helpful. If the hostile effects are themselves lengthy, then Suppress Affliction can be prolonged with Salvation of Time.
4th Level - Withdraw: It takes an ally out of the battle completely. The ally cannot be hurt or targeted in any way, but cannot him or herself take any actions. It is also likely to have completely healed up the ally by the time it ends. This spell can be really handy for when a party member is too close to 0 Health for comfort, at least until I get both Barring Death's Door and Salvation of Time.
Holy Meditation: The +5 Resolve also means +5 Deflection for everyone. The Resolute Inspiration will also add a point of Concentration every 6 seconds for every character. It will be one of the buffs that benefits from endless extension through Salvation of Time.
Weapon and Shield Style: A natural selection for any character that uses a Shield.
5th Level - Dance of Death: It will be a good way later on to passively recoup Wounds as long as she avoids getting Hit to the maximum extent possible.
6th Level - Mortification of the Soul: It can sometimes be a good way to bring her Wounds total back up to 10 in a pinch.
7th Level - Vile Thorns: Automatically obtained on 7th level.
Swift Flurry: The Monk / Priest build I have in mind for her doesn't emphasize physical combat as much as for other characters, but it's still a natural choice when 3rd-tier Monk abilities become available.
Two Weapon Style: It can be useful in some situations, like when I feel the need to switch her over to her secondary weapon set, or when Ydwin may want to use Reaping Knives on her.
8th Level - Combat Focus: Her Holy Meditation spell will help both Tekehu and herself accumulate Concentration over the course of a fight. But sometimes it's helpful to have at least one point of Concentration in place at the start of the fight, especially when they need to start the fight off with their buff spells and before Holy Meditation can really make itself felt.
9th Level - Blade Turning: It will for its very brief duration render a Monk completely immune to harm from melee weapons, as she simply redirects any attack made against her so that it instead strikes another enemy adjacent to her. The brief duration would ordinarily mean I would never touch it. But it's one of those abilities that can become awesome when extended by Salvation of Time. Once I get Salvation of Time, I'll add a script condition so that she'll use Blade Turning when her Wounds (and Intellect bonus) reach +10 and she's near two or more enemies. The reason I insist on the 10 Wounds condition in the script is to maximize the initial duration, and thus maximize the chance it will get extended by a subsequent Salvation of Time.
10th Level - Circle of Protection: She automatically gets it on her 10th level-up. I don't use it though, as it's redundant and inferior to Tekehu's Moonwell.
Duality of Mortal Presence: The fundamental point in this instance is to increase as much as possible the area-of-effect of her buffs, especially Salvation of Time when she gets it. It will increase the initial duration of buffs she personally casts. And in the instance of buffs like Blade Turning and Swift Flurry that have short default durations, that has the additional point of maximizing their durations and in turn maximizing their chances of getting included in the endless extension of all buffs through endless castings of Salvation of Time.
Devotions of the Faithful: It buffs party members' Might by +4 and Accuracy by +10, while inflicting equivalent penalties on enemies within the area-of-effect. I cast it at moments where I can have its area-of-effect apply to both the party and as many enemies as possible. The buff may benefit some party members, while not stacking with other buffs that party members are already using. But it's also the chance to inflict hefty penalties on numerous enemies that still make casting the spell worth it when the occassion arises.
11th Level - Enduring Dance: It now makes Dance of Death a real option, as now three attacks have to get through her high Defenses to end her Dance when she uses it. And it means limitless and passive replenishment of Wounds when she does use it.
12th Level - Thunderous Blows: It allows her to gain the Tenacious (+5 Might, +2 Penetration) Inspiration for 4 Wounds. Might is just as much about bonus Healing as it is about bonus Damage for a healer. And it's yet another buff that will be extended endlessly through Salvation of Time.
13th Level - Wicked Briars: Automatically gained on 13th level-up. I never use it.
Enervating Blows: Her role at higher levels becomes more of putting up buffs and keeping up those buffs indefinitely. But she will still sneak in a Melee Attack every once in a while in between castings of Salvation of Time. A Critical Hit will put the Weakened (-5 Constitution, -50% Healing Received) Affliction on the target.
Rapid Casting: Adds +10% Action Speed when casting spells. It's always a desirable passive for any spellcaster, but especially so for Xoti. I eventually want her at the point where she can put her buffs up quickly, and then starting spitting out Salvations of Time non-stop while enjoying the Brilliant (+5 Intellect, +1 Power Levels, +1 Class Resource every 6 sec) Inspiration courtesy of Ydwin. And I want her to both be able to keep churning out the Salvations of Time as quickly as possible, but also at times be able to sneak in another spell in between Salvations of Time. The more Action Speed and the less Recovery Time she has, the better. Truly and literally.
14th Level - Practiced Healer: It will increase the Healing provided by Restore and Holy Radiance by 15%.
15th Level - Barring Death's Door: The spell itself has a short duration, but it will become a foundation for how the evil party conducts many battles in conjunction with Salvation of Time. At the very least Zarathos can freely charge into the thick of battle, heedless of taking extra damage on account of being a Helwalker and the Raw Damage of the Berserker's version of Frenzy. And he'll have little to fear if he's enjoying the protection of this spell prolonged endlessly by Salvation of Time. And if he spends that time with less than 25% Health so as to enjoy the Death Godlike's +3 Power Levels for both the Barbarian's Carnage and the Monk's unarmed attacks, so much the better. Ydwin will be a frequent recipient as well, as she is a squishy spellcaster. And I certainly don't object if her having less than 25% Health coaxes forth the power of her Effigy's Husk. There are some fights where I layer up everyone in the party with this spell, and keep it going until the end of the battle with Salvation of Time.
16th Level - Turning Wheel: It gives her +2% Burning Damage for each wound while she keeps Duality of Mortal Presence active.
Salvation of Time: A linchpin for how the evil party conducts battles during the later parts of the game. She'll often start with a Holy Meditation spell on the party, and then a Barring Death's Door on Zarathos. She'll then receive Ancestor's Memory from Ydwin. She'll cast this spell on the party, which will extend any and all buffs they may have by 10 sec. She'll be able to cast two Salvations of Time at the outset once she reaches her 19th level. And Ancestor's Memory will itself be extended. The Ancestor's Memory will gradually recoup her spells, including the 6th-tier spell slots for Salvation of Time. And regaining Salvation of Time means extending Ancestor's Memory, both combining a self-sustaining loop that is as broken as it sounds. And any and all buffs the party enjoys can be carried infinitely through to the end of even the longest of battles. And at some point you can isolate only the 6th-level spell slots that get recouped by Ancestor's Memory, to assure an endless supply of Salvation of Time. Of course, that doesn't rule out interjecting another buff I may want in between castings of Salvation of Time, like Blade Turning or Barring Death's Door on another character for example. And the more time added to Ancestor's Memory, the more leeway I have to work in that kind of interjection.
17th Level - Quick Summoning: It helps her summon her fire and ice manifestations faster, once she gets The Dichotomous Soul power.
18th Level - Improved Critical: She still sometimes attacks in between castings of Salvation of Time.
19th Level - Wall of Thorns: Automatically gained on her 18th level-up. I hardly if ever use it though.
The Dichotomous Soul: It summons two replicas of herself, one made of fire and the other of ice. They inherit her armor and accessories, but use unarmed attacks with one scoring bonus Burning Damage and the other scoring bonus Freezing Damage. There are some fights where bringing lots of summons can be helpful. And there are some fights where I want to summon the Dichotomous Souls non-stop, with Enduring Dance passively replenishing the needed Wounds.
Shields for the Faithful: Adds +20 Deflection for all allies within a 1.5m radius. It's one of her starting buffs, and it will get extended endlessly by Salvation of Time.
20th Level - Heartbeat Drumming: It provides a 25% chance of an extra attack upon scoring a Critical Hit. Xoti by this point has everything she needs to be effective in what I need her for, so this amounts to sugar on top.
Inventory
Xoti's Sickle: Part of her starting equipment. A common complaint against it is that its Damage isn't great to begin with, so triggering the increases to Damage on kill is unlikely. And even should you pull that off, the Damage afterwards still wouldn't be great. The reason I have her use it from start to finish is the Urgent Harvest enchantment when she takes the dark path to completing her personal quest, The Lantern of Gaun. It increases her Action Speed when an enemy is killed near her. And with the other Action Speed buffs that she'll have in place, it will make her that much faster. For example, it makes it that much easier to sneak in a Barring Death's Door in between castings of Salvation of Time. And it will get extended in duration by castings of Salvation of Time.
