These races make the best melee-Cipher builds.

Godlike
Godlike characters get a +1 bonus to DEX and INT which are two of the three most important attributes for a Cipher. This makes them ideal for this class. The only drawback to Godlike is that they cannot wear a helmet and there are a couple nice helmets with decent stats in the game that you may want to wear.

Death Godlike
They do additional damage to enemies with low endurance. Because you're going to be in melee and swinging a weapon, this ability will always come into play, making it the best racial ability for a Cipher among the Godlike races.

Nature Godlike
When their Endurance drops below 50% they gain +3 to Might and +2 to CON and DEX. These are great bonuses to have, but we don't want to get hit in the first place, so if you're playing the class well these bonuses won't often come into play, if ever.

Fire Godlike
When their Endurance drops below 50% they gain damage reduction to fire and do some fire damage back to enemies. The damage numbers are small, however, and as a melee-Cipher we're going to be working on our defense and positioning so we optimally do not get hit in the first place. So, like the Nature Godlike race, this abilty will rarely come into play if we are playing our character correctly.

Coastal Aumaua
Amaua get +2 to MIGHT which is good for a Cipher. Coastal Aumaua also get +20 resist to Prone and Stun. These are great resists to have for a melee class and they are always active. Last but not least, Aumaua, unlike Godlike, can wear helmets. Put together, Aumaua is one of the better choices you can make (and in my opinion, the best race choice).

Pale Elf
They get +1 to DEX and PERCEPTION, both of which are useful to a melee-Cipher. They also gain +10 damage reduction to burn and freeze, which are active at all times. Any time you get a racial bonus that is in effect all the time that's a win.

Human
They get +1 to MIGHT and RESOLVE. The +1 Resolve you can subtract to add to something else you need, like Dexterity. The +1 MIGHT is not as much as an Aumaua gets but hey, every little bit counts. The racial bonus, Fighting Spirit, grants you increased accuracy and damage when Endurance falls below 50%. These are nice bonuses, but again, like the abilities of Nature and Fire Godlike, they require us to lose half our health in order to kick in and since we don't want to get hit in the first place these are not great abilities. Human is, therefor, unquestionably the worst of these racial choices for a melee-Cipher, but it is a better choice than just about any other race not on this list.

Might, Dexterity and Intelligence are your three most important attributes. Perception is the 4th, but it is lower priority.

A Note About Stat-Dumping
I do not recommend stat-dumping for a Cipher. I know a lot of guides for various classes (including some Cipher guides) will recommend it. However, I have personally found that there is more benefit to not dumping Constitution or Resolve.

Dumping Constitution, at higher levels, will cost you 300-400 hit points. That is not insignificant. That effectively cuts your hit points in half. I consider the Cipher one of the two most essential classes in the game for a party of 6 (the other is a Priest) and you are no good to your party when you're dead.

Dumping Resolve is also unwise as it purposely gimps one of the important aspects of this character: not getting hit. Deflection is your friend. You are a spellcaster class, first and foremost, which gives you low hit points to begin with, and Resolve is one of the attributes that affects Deflection.

The way to survive with this class is to not get hit. As a melee class you're going to be in the thick of things quite a bit, up-close and personal, so in order to survive attacks you need high Deflection. The Cipher class comes with spells to siphon Deflection and Damage Reduction and you will use those spells in addition to the bonuses a Priest will offfer your party. Buffed properly, you won't get hit, and Resolve is part of that equation.

Now, on to the stats:

Most Important

Dexterity
This attribute affects your action speed: how fast you swing a weapon and how fast you can cast a spell. Since you'll be doing both, you want this as high as you can get it. You want to act as fast as possible.

Intelligence
This attribute affects the duration of your spells. A lot of the Cipher's power is in their ability to Charm, Dominate or Paralyze enemies. The longer you can stick those spells the better for your whole team. In addition, you get three really important self-buffs, and the longer you can keep those up the better off you're going to be. INT is super-important for a Cipher.

Might
Ciphers use Focus to cast spells. Focus is gained by doing damage. The more damage you can do on a per-hit basis, the more focus you can gain. The faster you can gain focus, the faster you can cast your spells, which is where the real power comes from. For this reason you want MIGHT to be as high as possible. Do the most damage possible every hit.

Somewhat Important

Perception
This attribute affects your accuracy with your weapon. It is important to make every swing count because hitting the enemy and doing damage is what gives you Focus. That said, on Hard difficulty with a base score of 10 I find my Cipher rarely misses. So I do not think it is worth poking points into this. Weapons, equipment and Priest Spells give you enough Accuracy.

Less Important

Resolve
Resolve helps a Cipher with their Deflection, and it is for that reason alone I do not recommend dumping this attribute (dumping = reducing to the minimum score). As a melee Cipher you want as much Deflection as you can get. Dumping Resolve to boost another stat doesn't payoff well. It's better to keep the Deflection. You're going to have buffs to help you as well, and some gear. The whole point of being a melee-Cipher is to doing large amounts of melee damage and not get hit doing it. That said, there's no reason to put any points into this attribute either. Just leave it at 10.

Constitution
If there's one stat you can dump a little bit, it is this one. CON governs your hit points. But, you're already going to be on the low side due to being a spellcaster class so you do not want to dump this very far, if at all. I recommend leaving it at 10, but you can get by with an 8 or 9 score.

Depending on Race, your Attributes should look something like this:

MIG: 16
CON: 10
DEX: 16
PER: 10
INT: 16
RES: 10

There really is no right or wrong way to put the stats here. You can max INT or DEX or even MIGHT and drop a couple points off something else, especially if you have certain gear in mind. As long as you're putting your major focus into MIG, INT and DEX, you're going to be good.

Focus is everything to a Cipher. You want to have as much as you can get and build it as fast as possible. Then you can unleash hell. To that end, everything about this build is geared toward earning Focus as fast as possible, and that means doing damage.

Greater Focus
This should always be the first Talent you take. You get an automatic +10 to your starting and max Focus which allows you to fire off spells at the start of the battle instead of having to wait to build Focus to use them. The important part of this is Starting Focus. I cannot overstate the importance of starting Focus. An extra +10 Focus to start a battle gives you a 1st Level Cipher Spell that you can immediately fire off. Later on, as you grow levels, this bonus is going to allow you to fire off more powerful 2nd, 3rd and 4th level spells right at the start of a battle. Being able to fire off certain spells immediately at the start of a battle, without having to first build focus, helps make this class awesome.

Draining Whip
You gain Focus 33% faster. Easy choice.

Biting Whip
Your Soul Whip, which is a Cipher's passive ability that does damaqe when they attack, now does 20% more damage. More damage = more Focus gain. Win/Win.

Weapon Focus: Soldier
Gives you bonuses for using a Pike and a Greatsword. The Pike is one of the only reach weapons in the game and it will be your primary weapon in most cases. This will allow you to attack from the 2nd row when you are caught in a choke point. Since you are a caster that needs to buff before you can start running around the battlefield, you need some time at the start of a fight to safely build Focus. You can do that by hanging out in the 2nd row. From the 2nd row, you can cast a spell to increase your Deflection before you can fearlessly marching into the fray. You are an ideal 2nd-row fighter, like a Rogue, and should play it as such. You don't want to move around until you're ready (buffed).

Greatsword is the other weapon you will use a lot. There are a few creatures in the game that are immune to the Piercing damage of a Pike. When you encounter these, switch to the Greatsword. There are several unique Greatswords in the game with good stats and bonus damage types against certain creatures (like Beast or Wilder). In certain situations you will want to use these weapons for the extra damage. It's a good idea to have different melee weapons ready with enchantments that will hurt specific enemies (for intance, fire against Spirits).

Two-Handed Weapon Style
This should be self-explanatory. You're going to be using a Pike and a Greatsword. This adds +15% to your damage. More damage = more Focus.

Bloody Slaughter
20% of your Hits are converted to Crits, and those Crits have a +0.5 crit bonus, so they do more damage than your average Crit. More damage = more Focus.

Apprentice Sneak-Attack
You do +15% damage when an enemy is Flanked. You want to play your melee-Cipher like a Rogue because of your low hit points and base deflection. So you want to be behind the target most of the time and not trying to tank it (though you will get high enough deflection to tank, with buffs). Once again, for emphasis: More damage = more Focus.

The Cipher class has almost no bad spells to choose from. But as a melee-Cipher some choices are better than others. These are the spells I have used, played with, and highly recommend for a melee Cipher.

1st Level Spells [Cost: 10 Focus]

Antipathetic Field
This spell anchors on an enemy. It draws a line between you and an enemy that does Crush damage to anything caught in-between. This spell has a long range. It is great for casting at a far enemy and then running your Cipher around in a loop, smashing every enemy caught in the middle. This is also a great reason to give your Cipher the Boots of Speed. Take care, however: this will damage allies as well.

Eyestrike
A blind spell that also Dazes. Don't underestimate the power of Blind: it reduces Deflection of enemies by -20. That's huge and makes enemies much easier to hit. Daze reduces enemy attack speed by -15%. This is a very underrated level 1 spell.

Whisper of Treason
Your first Charm spell. You will use this a LOT throughout the entire game. One of your first acts every battle should be finding a low-Willpower enemy to Charm. As you gain levels and Focus, you'll be able to self-buff and then cast this 2-3 times, turning the tide of many battles in your favor right at the start by turning the numbers against your opponent.

Alternate Spell

Mind Wave
This is a good spell to have early in the game. It is meant for Melee-Cipher classes as it is limited to a small cone in front of you. It will stun an enemy and lay everyone behind it Prone. However, it is a very weak spell later in the game when fewer enemies are susceptiable to Prone. I recommend if you take this, take it early, and then respec your character (around level 5/6) and take something else.

2nd Level Spells [Cost: 20 Focus]

Psychovampiric Shield
This is the first of your three self-buff spells (the others come much later). This drains an opponents Resolve and gives you +25 Deflection. This is HUGE. This is what allows you to walk around the battlefield like a tank. This is why you're better than a rogue! You have more defense and devastating spells, all while still doing hearty melee damage. When you have 20 Focus at the start of a battle, this should almost always be your opening spell (exceptions are made when you're facing a huge number of enemies and you're safely in the 2nd row at a choke point; in that case, Charm first).

Mental Binding
Your second most-awesome 2nd level spell, it Paralyzes a target and hits nearby enemies with the Stuck affliction. With this and Charm you are already starting to be a Crowd Control master.

Amplified Thrust
This is your first of what I call the second-row damage spells. There are two of these spells and they are both awesome. You will use both of these spells a lot. This spell does Pierce damage and knocks enemies back with a push. The caveat is you don't cast this directly at an enemy. Instead, you cast it at one of your front-line fighters and it basically bounces through them and affects the nearest enemy they are facing. Ciphers get another spell like this (Amplified Wave, 6th Level) later on that does Crush damage. It is a really cool idea and shows a lot of thought went into the design of the Cipher as a second-level fighter, giving you cool tools to use behind the front line.

Phantom Foes
Sets the Flanked status on all enemies in the area of effect. Remember earlier, one of your Talents was to take Apprentice Sneak Attack? This synergizes well with that Talent.

3rd Level Spells [Cost: 30 Focus]

Puppet Master
Dominate spell. Another CC spell for your arsenal. Use liberally.

Soul Ignition
Does 170+ damage over 13 seconds. Any time you have a chance to get a big-damage spell you take it. Above all else you are a damage-dealer.

Ectopsychic Echo
This one works like Antipathetic Field only instead of casting it and anchoring it on an enemy, you cast it on an ally. Does Crush damage to anything caught in between. Wear the Boots of Speed and go running around the battlefield crushing on enemies.

4th Level Spells [Cost: 40 Focus]

Going Between
This is a super-powerful buff spell to cast on an ally. It increases their speed by +3, converts 25% of Crits to Hits, and converts 25% of Hits to Grazes. Cast this on your Paladin and watch them tank like Eder, but with better damage. Cast it on Eder when he's tanking dragons.

Silent Scream
Another big direct damage spell. Does Raw damage, which is a rare damage type and hardly resisted by anything. As a bonus, it does the damage to a single target, stuns them, and then does only slightly less damage in AoE to other enemies. This is a winner all the way around.

Pain Block
This is the Cipher's version of Lay on Hands. It heals the ally over time and grants them +10 Damage Reduction. A nice spell to have in a pinch.

Body Attunement
Steals +7 Damage Reduction for you. Damage Reduction is always good. Use this if you get caught with your pants down and need to tank something.

5th Level Spells [Cost: 50 Focus]

Borrowed Instinct
This is your 2nd Awesome Self-Buff. It robs the selected enemy of INT and PER while granting you +20 Accuracy, +20 Deflection and +20 to all other defensive stats as well. It lasts for 25 seconds, but with high INT you can turn that into 35 or 40 seconds easy. This is simply an awesome defensive buff. I always cast this on myself as soon as I have the Focus ready.

Detonate
Another big direct damage spell. Does Raw damage and will cause low-Endurance enemies to explode, doing Crush damage to those nearby. Use it as a finisher.

Ringleader
I'm adding this here because you may be tempted to take it. Don't. It looks promising on the surface: Charm and Dominate in an AoE. However, there are basically two problems with this spell. First, unlike most Cipher spells it is very slow casting. By the time you get this spell off it's too late to be of much use. Second, it doesn't stick very well; enemies shrug it off quickly even if it hits. It appears to be bugged in the game. You are far better off using the lower level, faster-casting Charm, Dominate and Paralyze spells for Crowd Control.

6th Level Spells [Cost: 60 Focus]

Disintegration
Huge Raw damage spell over time. You don't really have anything else that does this much damage. Take it and use it. Abuse it. Hurt someone.

Amplified Wave
Your second Amplified spell, and also awesome. This works just like the 2nd level spell Amplified Thrust, but it deals Crush damage instead of piercing damage (so pay attention to vulnerabilities of enemies). You target an ally and then the spell works through the ally and to the nearest enemy of the ally. These are great spells when you are in the 2nd row and trying to do damage at choke-points in the game. Use your reach weapon to build up Focus and then launch these Amplified spells at your front-line allies.

7th Level Spells [Cost: 70 Focus]

Time Parasite
This is why you want to have high DEX and wear light armor: so your recovery speed is high. Then you hit the enemy with this spell. It reduces the enemy's speed by 50% and gives it to you. And it reduces the speed of up to five other enemies in AoE. This is basically Pillars of Eternity's version of Haste.

8th Level Spells [Cost: 80 Focus]

Defensive Mindweb
The single-greatest spell for Ciphers in the entire game. This spell is so awesome. Everyone in the mindweb (your party) uses the best defense of every member. So everyone gets the best Deflection, Reflex, Fortitude and Willpower. Hell yes. Lasts for 30 seconds base; will last longer the higher your INT. Great spell against Dragons and other tough battles. It will take a little bit to build the focus for this, but it is totally worth it.

Weapons
As stated previously, you want to use a Pike and a Greatsword. Pike is your reach weapon and you should be using it most of the time. However, some enemies in Pillars of Eternity are immune to piercing damage and thus you should have a Greatsword ready in your other weapon slot.

Greatsword is your backup weapon for dealing with enemies immune to pierce or if you are facing an enemy that is particularly weak to a certain kind of damage. It's a good idea to have multiple weapons in your inventory that you can put into your weapon slots when needed. For instance, Greatswords or Pikes that deal fire damage (for spirits, because they are vunlerable) or weapons that have extra damage against certain enemy types (Beast, Wilder, etc.).

A lot of battles in Pillars of Eternity will have you facing two or more differnet kinds of enemies that are from different classes (Wilder & Spirit, for instance) and they will thus be vulnerable to different types of damages. Thus, having different weapons available is a huge help.

Rotate weapons in/out of your two weapon slots as you are adventuring based on what kind of enemies you are facing. For instance, in the White March is pays to have a weapon with bonus damage to Wilder creature type.

Enchant with fire or corrode damage (most things are not immune to corrode and spirits are vulnerable to fire).

Armor
You want the armor with the lowest Recovery and the most Damage Reduction. Typically this is going to be some kind of light armor with -15% or -20% recovery. Do not wear anything heavier! You kill your ability to build Focus quickly and cast spells quickly if you wear armor with a high recovery penalty.

Accessories
Remember your primary stats and your class objective: Might, Dexterity and Intelligence, and you want to do as much damage as fast as possible. Anything that helps with that is what you want to wear. Also, having one piece of gear with +9 Deflection (+5 early when gear is weak) and another piece with +9 to defenses (Reflex, Fortitude, Willpower) will help keep you in the fight. Your own buffs will add to these and help you play like a front-line fighter.

The Cipher is basically Pillars of Eternity's version of a classic D&D Fighter/Mage. You are going to wear light armor, weild a big huge 2-handed weapon for solid melee damage and cast spells to make yourself stronger while also making your enemies cower and die.

Your spells come in basically three types:

• Crowd Control (CC) (Charm, Dominate)
  
• Defensive Buffs
  
• Direct Damage

The key to playing a melee Cipher is twofold:

• For the first few seconds of any fight you want to play this class like a Rogue. Stay out of harm's way, do some melee damage (preferably from flanking position or with your reach weapon behind the front-line if you're at a choke point), build some Focus, cast a self-buff and start fighting. By mid-game you'll have enough starting Focus so that your first action will always be casting Psycovampiric Shield on the closest enemy to buff your Deflection.
  
• Once buffed, alternate between melee damage and spells. When you have enough focus to pull off a spell (or three), cast them, and then get back to melee.

Melee fighting will come in one of two varieties:

• At Choke Points, you will be in the 2nd row and use your Pike (reach weapon) to stab at things while building Focus. You'll then buff, Charm, Dominate, Paralize and use your Amplify damage spells to work through your front-row tanks.
  
• In more open-field battles you will want to take care and position for Flanking so you get the bonus from Apprentice Sneak Attack. Or, if positioning isn't going to work well because of the geography of the landscape then hit the enemy with Phantom Foes so they are automatically Flanked. Pair up with your tanks and work from angles. Cast spells as Focus becomes available (it will earn faster than you can blink).

Basically, you want to do as much damage as possible without getting hit, much like a Rogue. And part of how you are going to do that is with positioning, part of that is with a reach weapon (Pike), and another part of how you're going to do that is with buffs to improve your Deflection so that if someone does attack you, they will miss.

Once you are buffed you won't have to worry as much about getting hit. This class is meant to run around the battlefield doing melee damage.

Rogue Thoughts
In my own parties, the Cipher is played a lot like a Rogue, at least in the early parts of battles: flank, stay out of harm's way, do as much damage as possible. As such, I give my Cipher all the Mechanics points so that she can find and disarm traps and open locks. If you are going to play this kind of melee-only Cipher I strongly recommend also making it your Mechanics character (unless you have someone else in mind for that job).

A Word on Priests
I would be remiss if I didn't mention the power of the priest with this class which synergizes very well with a Cipher. It should go without saying that any solid party in Pillars of Eternity has a priest with them (at the very least, Durance, but a custom priest will be better). Priests have a ton of buffs for offense/defense that turn your melee Cipher into an absolute juggernaut.

Here is a screen shot of my Fire Godlike Cipher during the fight in Durgen's Battery. She has used Borrowed Instinct to improve her defenses, but that alone would never get her numbers so high.



She is level 11 and has:

• 124 Deflection
  
• 143 Willpower
  
• 107 Accuracy

She's getting an additional +25 Deflection from a Priest buffing her Resolve to the gills (remember, her base is 10 as I do not add any points to that Attribute). She's a monster. But this is because of a Priest in the party. Always carry a priest. Don't leave home without it.

Dragons are the ultimate boss encounters in Pillars of Eternity. As a Cipher, essentially a Fighter/Mage with low hit points, you will have to take some care with how you approach these encounters. You don't want to rush headlong into battle even with high deflection because your low hit points will make you an easy target to be dead. Eder can survive multiple attacks and dragon breaths - you cannot.

Most dragons have several additional enemies and this is where you'll spend the bulk of your time. Your job as a Cipher in these instances is to deal with the adds. You want to tank them, deal damage, Charm, Dominate and Paralyze when possible. You will build Focus quickly from dealing with the adds. When you have pleanty of Focus you should be casting Going Between on other team members (tank, off-tank) so they can survive the dragon better. You should be using your Amplify spells to do direct damage to the Dragon through your tank companions and casting your big DoT spells as well. You are a major damage dealer in these encounters, but you need to take care to stay out of the dragon's front and away from their breath weapon.

When the adds are dealt with you can safely flank the dragon from behind and continue to build Focus with your weapon while casting additional spells. At that point you're essentially a rogue with spells. Enjoy.

The Cipher is one of the most powerful and fun classes (if not the most fun and powerful class) in Pillars of Eternity. It requires a good deal of micro-manangement but the payoff is huge. Keep your armor light, use a Pike when enemies are not immune to Piercing, stay flanked or in the 2nd row and use your spells. You will build Focus fast with this character so be ready to spray spells all over the field.