This build was created for a collaboration with @Aestus who runs the Youtube channel Aestus_RPG. Here's the video where we talk about this and other builds. This is build 1 of 5 from that collaboration.
-----------------------------------------
This build is mainly meant for inspiration. You don't need to follow it in detail to have fun. If you understand the key features - the basic idea what makes this build special - you can usually deviate from my non-core attribute-, skill-, gear- and ability selection and form the build to your own likings and ideas.
I do not try to produce the most powerful uberbuilds (often those are the most boring to play in he long run) but to focus on having fun while playing. Usually that means the build is powerful - but it's not the main focus. If you like to read about my personal requirements for "fun to play" builds, you can jump to a list below this post
-----------------------------------------
rancfre Ghostoo Cullywoot was born in Rauatai to human parents: a Berserker mom named Clawsine and a Helwalker Monk dad named Auamensh - who didn't really have the most healthy relationship as you can imagine... she losing her temper all the time while he enjoyed blows tis body and all that kerfuffle. But they tried for the kid's sake and somehow managed to raise Wrancfre. He learned the way of the Berserker as well as the path of the Helwalkers. Is parents drummed it into him (with swift flurries often) that one never couldn't cross those streams. At the age of 16 Wranfcfe still hadn't decided whose footsteps to follow. Everybody and their pets, animal companions and even conjured familiars told him he could not do both - because it is known that this foolishness would mean instant suicide.
So he crossed the streams...
"The power of pain
So hard to sustain
Cleaning my soul
Frenzy on, very noisin'
Love with spikes of pois'n
Purge the soul
Make wounds your gooooal!"
- Wrancfre while bodyblowing some c0cky wizards -
===================================
The Fountain of Woe
===================================
Difficulty: PotD
--------------------------------------------------------------
Solo: untested
--------------------------------------------------------------
Class: Ravager - Berserker/Helwalker
--------------------------------------------------------------
Race: Human (any subrace)
--------------------------------------------------------------
Background: Rauatai (or any) - Laborer (or any)
--------------------------------------------------------------
Stats (w/o Berath's Blessings, ★=recommendation)
MIG: 10 (do not go higher - so with +2 from BB and +1 from Human pick 7 base)
CON: 19 (18 + 1 Rauatai) ★★
DEX: 14
PER: 18 ★
INT: 14
RES: 04 (3 + 1 Human)
--------------------------------------------------------------
the unique icons for all passive abilities are part of the Community Patch mod
Abilities | Skills | Proficiencies - (!=important, r=recommended)
01. Frenzy (!) + Force of Anguish (!) | Morning Star (!) + Pollaxe
02. Swift Strikes (!) | +1 Athletics (->4), +1 Intimidate (->2)
03. Blooded | +1 Athletics (->5), +1 Survival (->3)
04. Thick Skinned + Two-Handed Style | +1 Athletics (->6), +1 Intimidate (->3) | Pike
05. Barbaric Blow (r) | +1 Athletics (->7), +1 Insight (->2)
06. Long Stride | +1 Athletics (->8), +1 Insight (->3)
07. Bloodlust + Swift Flurry (!) | +1 Athletics (->9), +1 Intimidate (->4)
08. Efficient Anguish | +1 Athletics (->10), +1 Survival (->4) | Battle Axe
09. One Stands Alone | +1 Athletics (->11 ), +1 Bluff (->1)
10. Spirit Frenzy (!) + Duality of Mortal Presence (r) | +1 Athletics (->12), +1 Bluff (->2)
11. Bloody Slaughter | +1 Athletics (->13), +1 Bluff (->3)
12. Rooting Pain | +1 Athletics (-> 14), +1 Intimidate (->5) | Rod
13. Tough + Enervating Blows (!) | +1 Athletics (->15), +1 Survival (->5)
14. Leap | +1 Athletics (->16), +1 Insight (->4)
15. Barbaric Smash (r) | +1 Athletics (->17), +1 Bluff (->4)
16. Brute Force (!) + Turning Wheel (r) | +1 Athletics (->18), +1 Intimidate (->6) | Quarterstaff
17. Savage Defiance | +1 Athletics (->19), +1 Intimidate (->7)
18. Interrupting Blows | +1 Athletics (->20), +1 Survival (->6)
19. Blood Thirst (!) + Heartbeat Drumming (!) | +1 Athletics (->21), +1 Intimidate (->8)
20. Stalwart Defiance | +1 Athletics (->22), +1 Survival (->7) | Estoc
---------------------------------------------------------------
Items (!=important, r=recommended)
Weapon Set 1: Saru Sichr (! - +Paralytic, +Legendary)
Weapon Set 2: Lord Darryn's Voulge
Head: Death's Maw (r - for self-damage resistance)
Back: Cloak of Greater Protection
Neck: Amulet of Greater Health (r - or a +1 CON amulet like Cipher's Shackles)
Armor: Devil of Caroc Breastplate (! +Legendary (a), +Devil's Due (r) - regaining health on crit, +Mechnical Mind (!) - remove Berserker Confusion)
Waist: The Undying Burden (r - for self- damage resistance and more CON->health)
Hands: Gauntlets of Greater Reliability (r - helps to graze enemies with very high defenses with Body Blows)
Rings: Voidward (! - greater self-damage resistance), Ring of Prosperity's Fortune (helps with crits when rich) or Chamaeleon's Touch (+1 CON & +1 DEX)
Boots: Boots of the Stone
Pet: Abraham (not only speed but also +10 health on kill) or Socrates (+20 health on kill - recommended if Edér uses Abraham -> +30 health on kill)
---------------------------------------------------------------
What is this build about:
gaining wounds incredibly fast from Frenzy‘s self damage, paired with the Helwalker‘s rising MIG bonus (+1 per Wound) and the increased damage to self (+5% per Wound).
together with the self damage you're not only gaining wounds faster than you can spend them but you also profit from Blooded (+25% dmg) as well as Fighting Spirit (humans’ passive ability, +7 ACC, +15% dmg)
lowering enemies‘ fortitude defense a LOT on the fly with:
Morning Star‘s modal „Body Blows“: -25
Spirit Frenzy (staggers): -10 (-5 MIG)
Enervating Blows (weakens): -10 (-5 CON)
targeting enemies' lowered Fortitude:
first with special abilites like Force of Anguish/Efficient Anguish
later with Brute Force: target Fortitude with all attacks that would target deflection instead (if Fortitude is lower)
because of this, extreme accuracy is not required to deliver lots of critical hits (but of course it would still help, so please send buffs )
Force of Aguish pushes enemies into your Carnage AoE. Usually the initial target of your hits doesn't get affected by Carnage. With Force of Anguish it does! You push the enemy into Carnage Area before Carnage dmg get rolled - so Carnage treats the enemy like any other who's in the AoE: raw dmg. This means that Force of Anguish with Carnage does extra raw damage to single targets which is great.
using a multihit weapon and pair it with Swift Flurry and Heartbeat Drumming. A weapon such as the Morning Star Saru Sichr: it has 2 attack rolls, the normal physical pierce/crush roll and "Poison-Dipped", a DoT effect that rolls against Fortitude (what a nice coincidende). They both count as „proper“ melee attacks and they can both trigger Swift Flurry and HBD when they critically hit! The great thing about such multihit weapons (there are others such as the flail Sun & Moon or the Pike Wicked Beast) is: no matter which attack roll crits and triggers SF or HBD, those additional attacks roll twice again: the physical and the additonal one. Those can crit again and trigger another SF/HBD attacks and so on and so forth, creating a loop. This is a huge advantage over single hit weapons and raises the chance to cause a deadly loop of crits that can kill an enemy on the spot. Works best against low fortitude foes obviously.
in addition to the Swift Flurry stuff the DoT of Saru Sichr is very powerful: the DoT stacks with itself - and every time you reapply the DoT you trigger a tick immediately which leads to a significant increase of dps (same as with Bleeding Cuts from Battle Axes or Deep Wounds).
it also interrupts very reliably with not only Force of Anguish, but also Rooting Pain. Since you gain wounds so frequently you also trigger Rooting Pain frequently which interrupts bystanders (and damages them a bit)
pair all that with Blood Thirst at the latest levels… 💣
essentially it is a debuffing+CC+damage-dealing build, best used for hunting down squishy but dangerous enemies. But is also very helpful against bosses due to the fast and reliable debuffing of Fortitude, which helps most party members to land spells a lot more easily etc.
Issues:
the self damage which gives you a lot of wounds also kills you quickly
the self damage of Berserker’s Frenzy scales steeply with Power Level (unusual +2 per PL base dmg). This base damage gets boosted by MIG, the Helwalker’s increased self dmg percentage (remember +5% per wound), Blooded (+25%) and effects of items (such as Baubles of the Fin or a pet like Harley etc.). That's the main resaon to not raise your base MIG over 10. You will gain +15 MIG already from Frenzy and the Helwalker passive - you don't need more and you don't want more because it makes you go down more quickly.
to avoid killing yourself you should def. raise CON, pick up items with CON and/or health bonuses. In addition pick “Tough” and wear an amulet of Greater Health. This makes the build surprisingly sturdy at the early levels bc. the self dmg is still low.
also use items that give you resitance to damage (Undying Burden, Death's Maw, Voidward!) - they work very well to soften the self damage and make it manageable. This, together with the high health, balaces out the self damage at higher levels very well.
unintuitively picking Iron Wheel is not a good solution. Even though it raises CON and AR and sounds lie a good idea: it doesn’t stack with Berserker’s Hardy (+5 CON and +2 AR) - so a lot of its effects would be wasted. Better to pick Turniung Wheel for more dmg and longer duration of buffs (such as Swift Flurry).
get items that heal you up: Abraham (+10 health per kill) or Socrates (+20 health per kill) and the Devil of Caroc Breastplate (healing over time on crit - also useful against Confusion)
This build profits a lot from a good healer in the party obviously. But raising Athletics like there's nothing else also helps. It heals you a great deal at 20+. Savage Defiance is better than going down in a pinch, too.
Berserker’s Confusion is annoying and cannot be exploited with this build - so you want to get rid of it asap. You could do that with Enlightened Agony - but that’s wasting 2 ability points. Better to get Devil of Caroc Breastplate and enchant it. Or use food like Luminous Lobster. But since the Breastplate also heals on crit it’s the best pick imo.
as long as you have to deal with Confusion do NOT pick Rooting Pain! It will interrupt yourself. Only pick Rooting Pain when you have enchanted the Breastplate properly (or got rid of Confusion otherwise)
the DoT "Poison Dipped" of Saru-Sichr which produces that double-hit effect for SF/HBD does not work against poison-immune foes.
Why is it fun?
always wounds to spend and buff you up - alsmost never has to use auto-attacks right from the start.
hits very well right away: Body Blows + Force of Enguish alone carry the build through early game alone - because Boy Blows is a "free" and big defense debuff/ACC buff right away.
good weapon damage even without exploiting critical hits
nice CC early on - especially satisfying when using it against casters an other annoying enemies
later becomes even stronger with Spirit Frenzy and Enervating Blows, debuffing Fortitude even more
with the introduction of SF and then Brute Force it makes another leap
finalizing the fun ability collection with Heartbeat Drumming and Blood Thirst, who doesn't like crit chains + Blood Thirst, right?
so it’s just works well from start to finish - which makes it enjoyable
when a crit loop happens (and that's often if you focus on the right enemies) it’s just jawdropping
I personally enjoy the challenge to keep it alive
lots of crits, paired with the right voice (noble for me) results in lots of contagious laughter during battle - which is just so fun and is lightening my mood
Hope you enjoy!
Cheers!