These races make the best melee-Cipher builds.

Aumaua
Amaua is the best race to choose for a Cipher. They receive a +2 to bonus MIGHT which helps with Cipher damage (and damage = Focus). They can also wear helmets (unlike Godlike races). Finally, Pillars of Eternity 2 takes place in the Deadfire, which is essentially the home for the Aumaua race. They're the perfect choice from a roleplay perspective as well as a build perspective.

Godlike
Godlike characters receive a +1 bonus to DEX and INT, the two most important stats for a Cipher, making them ideal candidates for the Cipher class. The one drawback to the Godlike races is that they cannot wear helmets, which prevents them from gaining some decent bonuses via a crucial piece of equipment.

Among the Godlike races the Nature Godlike offers the best racial bonus. Nature Godlike characters receive the Wellspring Of Life ability, which means that while the character is under the affects of any Might, Constitution, or Dexterity buff, the character has an increased Power Level. If you are playing with a Priest in your party (and you should) then your Cipher is almost always under the influence of such buffs.

Pale Elf
They receive a +1 bonus to DEX and PERCEPTION, both of which are useful to a melee-Cipher. They also gain +4 armor rating for burn and freeze damage, 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 receive a +1 bonus to MIGHT and RESOLVE. When Bloodied or Near Death, their Accuracy and Damage increase. Considering you don't want to get hit as a Cipher, this sort of bonus is not terribly useful. Humans are the last "best" choice for a Cipher.

The Cipher class has access to three sub-classes. These are:

• Ascendant
  
• Beguiler
  
• Soul Blade

Each sub-class comes with certain benefits and drawbacks.

Ascendant
The Ascendant has the most max Focus of any Cipher sub-class. An Ascendant Cipher also builds Focus with Soul Whip and Draining Whip much faster than other Cipher classes, at the cost of -10% damage.

Haivng more Focus is a great thing for the start of a battle as you can then cast more spells before engaging in melee combat.

As the Ascendant Cipher builds focus and reaches Max Focus, they achieve the Ascended state, granting them increased power level and reducing Power Focus cost to 0. Soul Whip does not turn off while Ascended and provides more bonus damage during Ascended.

These are all good things. The drawback to an Ascendant Cipher is that while they are not in the Ascended state, their Power level is reduced by -1. Considering it can take a great deal of attacking and damage-dealing to reach the max focus level and thus enter the Ascended state, the value of the Ascendant Cipher sub-class is dubious.

Author's Note: I find that reaching max focus is not very easy to do until the latter half of the game. This means an Ascendant Cipher would spend the first half of the game, or more, casting spells at -1 Power Level. In my opinion it is not worth the drawback (casting weaker versions of spells) for the added max Focus and "Ascended" state. However, you can negate the hit by choosing a Nature Godlike character and having a Priest in your party who will make sure you are always under the influence of a Might, Constitution or Dexterity bonus.

Beguiler
The Beguiler has a nice benefit: +20% range on spells. Also, when Deception spells land on enemies affected by Flanked, Body Affiliation, Mind Affiliation, the Cipher earns Focus back. Many of the Cipher's best spells fall under the "Deception" category, so this benefit is advantagous.

The disadvantage of the Beguiler is that Soul Whip provides less bonus damage and reduced Focus against targets that are not vulnerable to Sneak Attack. This means the Cipher either needs to be casting Phantom Foes before engaging in melee or positioning with allies so they are flanking enemies. With that in mind, this class synergizes well with a Rogue dual-class (preferably Assassin).

Author's Note: If there's a sub-class worth taking, in my opinion, the Beguiler is the one to take. Dual-class with a Rogue/Assassin and you have a formidable combination and synergizes well.

Soul Blade
Soul Blades gain access to a special ability called Soul Annihilation which allows the Cipher to spend their remaining power pool and use it in a raw-damage attack. In addition, Shred spells cost -5 Focus.

Shred Spells are primarily all of the Cipher's damage-dealing spells, like Mind Lance, Silent Scream, Soul Ignition, Detonate and the mother-of-all-Shred-spells, Death of1,000 Cuts. Casting each for -5 Focus is a nice perk.

The disadvantage for the Soul Blade is that their starting Focus and max Focus are reduced -5. Focus is already a precious commodity and it already takes several levels before starting Focus is adequate for battle. Having starting focus reduced further makes this sub-class less-than-optimal until the later levels of the game.

Author's Note: Soul Blade really only blooms at the very late-game. Once the player has access to Death of 1,000 Cuts and a sufficiently large starting Focus pool, along with all of the appropriate Shred spells, then this sub-class is worth it. But that won't happen until the very end of the game. In my opinion it is simply not worth taking this sub-class for what amounts to 5% of the game content. The entire first 95% of the game you're going to feel under-equipped compared to the rest of your party; you're going to feel like a half a Cipher.

Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire introduces dual-classing to character creation which opens up a number of interesting and potentially powerful combinations. The drawback to having a 2nd class is that your character will be prohibitied from taking abilities in the last two levels of either class. In some cases this is not a very big deal as the final two levels do no contain very many abilities that are very important.

However, when it comes to the Cipher class, I feel it is far more important to play as a straight Cipher and not dual-class it. The issue isn't that the Cipher class has great spells in the last two levels (it does not), but that you will gain abilities slower and you will be forced to spend some points in your 2nd class, further reducing your access to critical spells and passive abilities of the Cipher class. You will be, in short, a diminished Cipher. The trade-off (gaining abilities in another class) is not that great, in my opinion, because the new abilities you receive from the other class are simply not going to be as good as the abilities you would receive as a Cipher.

There is one exception: The Rogue. If there is a class worth dual-classing a Cipher with, it is the Rogue. There are a few good reasons to dual-class as a Rogue.

1) A Melee Cipher plays like a Rogue anyway. You want to cast spells and then move around the battlefield flanking targets and not trying to tank enemies while simultaneously attacking enemies in melee range. From a purely mechanical point of view, the two classes play exactly the same.

2) Escape: This is one of the first abilties a Rogue has access to and it makes life so much easier for a Cipher to be able to move around the field, flank enemies, and position themselves for using Antipathetic Field or Ectopsychic Echo.

3) The Rogue gets some really nice offensive attacks, like Finishing Blow, Strike the Bell, and Blinding Strike, the latter two which can be upgraded to do constant Damage Over Time. These are great offensive weapons that aid in the Cipher's ability to deal damage.

4) Shadow Step: Allows the Rogue to escape to a position of safety and be invisible for a few seconds, long enough to take a healing potion. Cipher is a fragile spellcaster. You do not want to get hit, but when you do it would be nice to have a way to deal with it other than relying on a Priest or Paladin to heal you. Shadow Step is a great tool.

Dexterity and Intelligence are the two most important attributes for a Cipher. DEX affects action speed, which determines how fast you swing your weapons AND how fast you cast your spells. It is critical for a Cipher to be able to cast spells as fast as possible, since some spells can have rather long casting times. Intelligence affects how long your spells last, which is important for nearly every good Cipher spell, especially the crowd control spells. When you Charm or Dominate an enemy, you want it to last as long as possible.

Might and Perception are also very important for a Cipher, but less important than DEX or INT. Might affects how much damage you can do. For a Cipher, damage = Focus. The more damage you can do the faster you can build Focus. Perception affects your ability to hit the enemy. You can't do any damage or build any focus if you cannot hit.

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 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 INT and DEX, you're going to be good.

Abilities in Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire are broken up into two types: Active (spells) and Passive. Each time you level up, you get to choose one new ability which can be an active spell or a passive ability. Every time the character gains a new power level, you will get two ability selections.

In general, I prefer to prioritize active abilities (spells) over passive abilities when I only have one choice at level up, since spells are so powerful. But make no mistake: many passive abilities are very important and should be selected at some point in your character's life.

Lingering Echos: Your outgoing affliction spells last 10% longer. Combine this with a high INT score and you can make thigns like Charm and Dominate last a reasonable length of time, making them worth the casting time involved.

Draining Whip: A must-have ability. This is better than Biting Whip because of the 100% Focus gain. More Focus = more spells.

Two-Weapon Style: A must-have ability. This is a dual-wield guide after all.

Hammering Thoughts: +1 Weapon Penetration. This isn't a necessary ability. But if you've grabbed everything else you want and can't think of something to take on level-up, this is a decent choice.

Greater Focus: Another must-have ability. Take it as soon as it is available. Gives you more Focus and more starting Focus.

Keen Mind: A must-have ability. +10 Focus

Farcasting: +20% range on your spells. Optional, but highly useful.

Rapid Casting: +10% speed with spells. As stated at the beginning of this guide, DEX is your friend because you want to cast as fast as possible. I almost consider this a "must have" passive ability.

The Empty Soul: +10 Accuracy with spells vs. Will. Most of your spells target the WILL attribute, so this is absolutely important to your class. As you get into the late game content, the enemies will have higher WILL scores. But with this ability you can keep hitting them with your spells. This is a must-have.

Improved Critical: A nice-to-have if you are looking to spend a point on level-up. But not necessary.

The Complete Self: On Critical Hit you can get some Focus back. This is just another tool to aid in earning Focus. Nice-to-have.

Lasting Empower: +20% duration with Empowered Attacks. This is absolutely awesome. Cast Whispers of Treason (charm) or Puppet Master (dominate) as Empowered Spells and watch the duration skyrocket. You can Dominate enemies for over a minute, even in the late game, with this and high INT. This is probably my favorite part of being a Cipher: charming an enemy for the duration of a fight. A must-have ability. And people were upset that the group size was reduced to five... Well, here's your 6th group member.

A Soul's Echo: 15% of hits with Cipher spells converted to Crits. Again, awesome. Crit an an Empowered Charm with Lasting Empower... A must-have ability.

Prestige: +1 all Power Levels. Makes all your spells and abilities better.

Author's Note: In my opinion, these are the best Cipher passive abilities. There are some other good ones, especially late, like Accurate Empower, Great Soul and Protective Shield. But given that you need to spend points on actual spells while leveling up as well, the usefulness of other abilities is questionable at best.

Level 1
Whispers of Treason: The best Cipher spell in the game and you get it at level 1. You will use this all game long. It should be your first action every battle; find a nearby enemy with low WILL and charm them. Turn them to your side of the battle. Empower this spell to make it last longer.

Antipathetic Field: One of your best Direct Damage spells. Cast it on an enemy. It draws a line between you and them, damaging everyone in between. Be careful - it will hurt allies as well. But used carefully this spell will do a ton of damage.

Eyestrike: Blinds enemies. Blinded characters suffer -5 Perception, are considered Flanked, +100% Recovery, -10 Accuracy, and the distance of all ranged attacks is halved. This is simply a very, very good early spell to have.

Level 2
Mental Binding: Paralyzation. By defauilt, only lasts 6 seconds. This is why INT, Lasting Empower and high crit chance are important, to stretch the duration out. Empower this as well. Can lock down an enemy for a bit, giving you and your team time to deal with others. Part of a Cipher's CC toolkit.

Amplified Thrust: A really neat Direct Damage spell. You cast it on an ally and it attacks whoever the ally is currently attacking. Does pierce damage and then jumps to another foe. This is a great way for you to do damage in certain situations without getting yourself caught in a tight cluster of enemies and becoming vunlernable to melee attack. You can safely cast this from a distance.

Phantom Foes: Makes enemies Flanked. This is critical if you're a Beguiler sub-class or multi-classed as a Rogue wanting to make use of the Rogue's Sneak Attack for 30% more damage.

Level 3
Puppet Master: Domination spell. Has the same base duration as Whispers of Treason but a much, much shorter range, requiring you to be very close to the target. You may ask, "Why use this, for 30 Focus, when Whispers of Treason only costs 10 Focus, has way better range and does the same thing?" Well, it's not the same thing. Charmed enemies (Whispers) cannot use special abilities. Dominated enemies can. A Dominated enemy is a much more formidable ally for your team. Use this with Empower for longer duration and watch your new 6th team member tear up your foes.

Ectopsychic Echo: Works like Antipathetic Field, but you cast it on an ally instead of an enemy. Draws a line between you two and does crush damage to everyone in between. Many creatures are vulnerable to crushing damage, so this is an excellent way to hurt them hard and fast.

Soul Ignition: I am only adding this in here because it's a Shred spell. If you want to make maximum use of Death of 1,000 Cuts toward the end-game, make sure to take a few Shred spells along the way, like this one.

Level 4
Silent Scream: Stuns the target and does Raw damage to nearby enemies. Even better: interrupts them. Also a Shred spell. This is just a great spell all-around.

Pain Block: If for some crazy reason you don't have a Paladin in your group (and you really should, because Liberating Exhortation is worth its weight in gold at the end of the game, especially against Fampyres) then this is a decent backup to Lay on Hands. Otherwise, if you do have a Paladin, don't bother with this spell.

Level 5
Borrowed Instinct: A Cipher's bread-and-butter defense buff. Drains INT and PER from the target (-8) and grants you +20 Accuracy and +20 to all defenses. Lasts for 30 seconds by default. The downside is that it requires 50 Focus, which is why starting Focus is so important and why I don't care for the sub-classes that hurt starting focus. It's important to be able to get Whispers of Treason off first at the start of a battle and then have enough Focus left to cast this spell 2nd. Then you can enter melee with the defensive stats of a Fighter.

Detonate: Another Shred Spell. Fun, as it blows up enemies that are close to death doing damage to everyone (allies included) who are nearby. Great for a cluster of enemies if you have a near-death target in the center (which makes the use of this spell very situational). Downside: you have to be fairly close to the target to use the spell, so you are almost always going to take damage from this yourself. Why this doesn't have a longer cast range I will never understand.

Ringleader: Putting this here because, like PoE1, this looks, on the surface, like a decent spell. But it's riddled with problems. First of all, it has a really, really short range. It also costs 50 Focus. For 50 Focus you can cast Whispers of Treason five times. Puppet Master has a 5m range. This is 4m - even shorter. The idea here is to cast it on a cluster of enemies, Dominating the target and Charming others nearby. But most encounters have enemies with a wide range of WILL scores; you're going to be lucky to Dominate your target, let alone Charm nearby foes. And given the very short range on the spell it is just not worth it. Don't waste your time. Use Whispers of Treason and Puppet Master instead. Sure, it will take a few seconds longer to cast Whispers five times, but you'll be better off, and you might Crit one or two of those casts as well.

Level 6
Amplified Wave: This is the other "cast on an ally" damage spell. It is awesome. It has a huge AoE. Inflicts Crush damage and then knocks enemies down. Fabulous spell.

Disintegration: DD spell. Shred Spell. Best damage spell you have (240 Raw damage). There is no reason not to take this. Use it liberally.

Level 7
Statis Shell: Works almost just like the Force Field spell from Dragon Age: Origins. Locks down a target (foe only) for 12 seconds (longer with high INT). Require a WILL check, which, again, is why it is so important to take passive abilities like The Empty Soul.

Note: Level 8 & 9 spells are only accessible to pure Ciphers. Dual-Classed Ciphers cannot take these spells. Keep that in mind when planning your build.

Level 8
Reaping Knives: These Knives cannot be cast on yourself; they must be used on an ally. Take this if you have dual-classed Aloth as a dual-wielding Spellblade (Wizard + Rogue). These will do great damage and you'll earn mad Focus. Now you AND an ally will be earning Focus for you. Awesome.

Defensive Mindweb: I am putting this here because this was one of the best spells in PoE1, but it has been severely neutered for PoE2. It still functions the same way (all members of the Mindweb get the best defense from everyone in the web), but now if anyone in the web takes damage they are removed from the web, and obviously their defense is too. That makes this spell about as useful as wearing a flea-and-tick collar when swimming with sharks. If you were a fan of this spell in PoE1, like I was, don't waste your time with it now.

Level 9
Death of 1,000 Cuts: The target takes raw damage and then the spell "fractures", doing damage over time. If you cast another "Shred" spell on the target, it fractures the spell again, starting another damge over time effect. It is possible to keep landing "Shred" spells on the target, and keep inciting more fractures of the original spell. Best used on boss mobs. And since you'll only really get this toward the end of the game (and with a straight Cipher; no dual-class) then there's really only one "enemy" you can use this on... But it's a helluva One-Hit-Wonder.

Any weapon combination will work in Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire. The most important thing is that you have a damage type that the enemy is not immune to. Many enemies are immune to certain damage types while being vulnerable to others. In general, I find it pays to have one weapon set that does Slash/Pierce and a second weapon set that does Crush damage.

If you just wanted to cover all your bases with two weapon sets, use Swords and War Hammers. Swords do two types of damage (Slash/Pierce) and War Hammers do two types of damage as well (Crush/Pierce). With two swords and two war hammers you'd always have a damage type to get through the enemy's defenses.

However, the game doesn't contain many great unique swords or war hammers. And the unique weapons tend to have the best stats and effects.

There is an abundance of unique sabers, daggers, rapiers, and stllettos in the game. There are also a few unique flails and maces.

Thus, my recommendation is to grab the unique weapons and then mix and match for maximum damage type efficiency. In general, I tend to play with 2 sabers in my 1st weapon slot, and then something like a War Hammer and Mace combo in the second slot, for enemies vulnerable to Crush damage.

Ranged weapons are unnecessary with this build. Play it like a melee rogue.

As stated before, [[i]play it like a Rogue[/i]. Let front-line fighters get engagement on enemies. Cast your spells, then flank and attack. Build focus, cast more spells. Rinse, repeat.

Your first order of business every battle should be to seek out a target for Whispers of Treason. Get yourself a Charmed enemy up and running so you have a de-facto 6th party member. If you are facing a great number of enemies and you are of sufficient level to have 20 or 30 starting Focus, find a 2nd or 3rd target to Charm as well. Charming enemies will make a huge difference.

In the latter stages of the game, use Dominate (enemies will have to be closer) so that your new "ally" will have all his/her abilities to use. A good way to handle Dominate is to allow enemies to engage your front-line fighters. Once Dominated, get your front-line fighter to switch targets to a hostile enemy using Charge.

Once you have a charmed enemy or three, start moving around the battlefield. Look for a prime target to flank (preferably one that a front-line fighter has engaged). Flank, strike, build more Focus. Then whip out spells as necessary. Antipathetic Field, Ectopsychic Echo, Mental Binding, Silent Scream, Disintegrate... If you think you might want to mix it up a bit more, or you might get attacked a bit more during a particular battle, use Borrowed Instinct to increase your defenses.

Played well, the Cipher will do great amounts of damage and will be the best CC member of your team. You'll be the one keeping things from getting out of hand and you'll end most fights by having your whole party attack Charmed and Dominated enemies that won't fight back.

Enjoy.