Fan of Flames has been a staple on my Spellblade (assassin). Cheap and well performing.

Agree on Deleterious. It is a friendlier wound generator, and good to melee with. The cool thing if Sage is that these 2 classes really mesh well.

This should be plenty to get me started.

BTW, dis you calculate how much might do you need to self incapacitate? Say, from lvl 5 or so.

48 minutes ago, Boeroer said:

I wouldn't use too much MIG because you will get up to +15 from the Helwalker side (Helwalker passive + Thunderous Blows) and that, combined with the +5% damage received per wound, leads to Blood Sacrifice doing a lot of damage (scales with Might). Deleterious Alacrity of Motion, too.

Imo 10 MIG is enough. You will not get a damage malus (which would be multiplicative and that's bad) yet you somewhat control the self damage a bit.

CON on the higher side is not something I consider often, but here it makes sense. Monks have a big health pool and half of it goes into the multiclass, so the effect of CON leads to a fair increase of health in absolute numbers.

Imo high INT is a must for any AoE weapon such as Citzal's Spirit Lance.

For Race I would pick Human because of the Fighting Spirit passive. Due to Blood Sacrifice you will find yourself bloodied or near death fairly often and the increased accuracy and damage (also self damage though!) are nice to have then.

Everything that heals is nice, especially if it heals "on the fly" such as Devil of Caroc Breastplate (on crit) or a pet such as Abraham or even Cajux. Even better: using Cajux for yourself (20 healing on kill) and Abraham for Eder (effect for every party member: 10 health on kill) for a combined +30 health on kill (base value) when you kill an enemy.

Stunning Surge is extremely good with Spirit Lance - if you can hit multiple enemies. It's a free AoE stun attack then basically.

Zandethu's Draconic Fury (unique grimoire) is a great spell for a melee Sage.

Let's talk spells! Both unlockable and grimoires.

As fos stats, I have 16, 10, 20, 20, 18, 8. Tho that was a trial.

Self damage is gonna wreck me anyway, but I did try yesterday with these stats. The sweet spot for me is the most damage I can do without one shotting myself at 75% HP. Ir so I thought.

And yes, I may stand back and cast, or decide to go full melee, depending by the situation. I find that technical AND varied multiclasses keep me entertained the most.

I did try your Helwalker Berserk and I loved it.

Anyway, let's discuss spells!

Edits, cos I am on mobile ATM and make typos.

I am back on Deadfire and back on a Sage build with Helwalker and Bloodmage.

This time, my query is about specific spells.

I thing I'd roll the charachter focusing on evocation and citzal.

First unlock, the Parasitic Staff seems too good to pass on. But then what?

I'd like some build advices from someone that played this combo well enough to know how to plan it.

Pressing shift shows a hard to read presentation of info. An example in the screenshot.

I found out.
Crew (sailors) injuries obtained during boarding melee combat are not displayed at all in the map menus. Basically they are only noticeable while in boarding combat. 

This got to be the dumbest thing in the game. If my sailors are injured, I should see it! Why even bother displaying injuries in 3 locations (on top right, bottom right, and in Ship H menu) if the injuries obtained in melee combat are basically invisible while still counting for NPC death? C'mon...
 

Can we restock the crew available at inns? I need hands.

EDIT: Yeah, they weren't injured; they just disappeared. 

No storms, no injuries (I check after every battle), all optimally healthy and happy in fact.

My only logical explanation would be "they got gibbed", as that mechanic may act in weird ways...I think. But I do not recall seeing these member of my crew fighting at all. Again, we are talking of my cook and surgeon, both assigned in their respective slots.

All at 100 morale, well fed, not injured.

Well, they randomly disappear. I already lost a cook and a surgeon. They just vanish.

I am doing some melee ship combat, but I got no injured crew either. What is this? O.o

This thread actually helped me out as well.

I am planning an all Single-Class casters run with  Wizard MC  + Aloth + Fassina (so at least 3 dedicated pure casters) for my next run, and had a hard time deciding between Evo, Blood, or Pure for my main.

While having access to all spells available seems sooo good, I kinda see a possibly more beneficial interaction with an Evoker MC for Burst, which would leave Aloth as CC, and Fassina  in melle or on priority targets.

Last 2 slots could be a Priest or a Druid, and maybe a Cipher. I can foresee a lot of mayhem on such a team.

 

That said, I am open to hear thoughts and ideas from anyone!

Very good points. I'll stick to my stats then, and try to gear up for a + 8 might along the way.

4 hours ago, Boeroer said:

High MIG is not really needed for a Mindstalker imo. Your melee dmg will be raised by Sneak Attack (scales with Power Level up to 50% with a multiclass Trickster iirc) and later Deathblows (50%) - then your weapons will add some dmg with quality and so on. Even if you went to 20 MIG it would "only" give you a +30% additive dmg bonus. 

If you use a lot of damaging cipher spells one could make better use of MIG. But if your main dmg output comes from weapon attacks I think it's not worth it. 

But that's just my personal approach. You could try it out and see what feels better. 

Yes, dmg comes from shreds, dual wield weapons (daggers, rapiers, and gear that speed up the recovery of such weapons) and later also your very best friends Fire in the hole and Kitchen stove. The idea is to generate lots of resources quickly, and to use Soul Annihilation mainly as a spender for surplus of points, rather than a primary tactic (trying to avoid the one-trick pony).

I want to try the WotEP setting you suggested too, tho until I have the funds for it, I find this fast build very enjoyable.

Let me ask you one last Q:

Do you think it's easier to find MIG or INT gear, for a +10 points? Cos alternatively I could split 15-15.

I was pondering if Might could be more beneficial than Int, for the purposes of the Mindstalker (Trickster/ Soulblade) build. I mean, I went for 20 Dex, Per, and Int. My crits aren't that jaw-dropping, and while the +50% duration is great and the extra survivability is good, it mostly affects Cipher abilities that I can refresh (Borrowed Instincts, and some shreds such as Ampli-wave, Disintegration...).

On the other hand, Might may boost my damage, Rogue skills effectiveness, and general melee endeavour.

I do realize it may appear as an unorthodox approach, but I'd like to hear some thoughts about my postulations.

I am wondering if MC a melee Trickster with Soul Blade would be worth the cost.

I am looking at Annihilation, Phantom foes, Borrowed Instincts, Echoing shield,  as well as some of the passives... and wondering if they would significantly contribute to the build, as opposed to a single class Trickster Rogue.

I'm so upset for the class restrictions put on the mantle...it looks amazing, and I could see those upgrades doing wonders on many builds. ❤️

I would like to get a better understanding regarding the Tactician mechanics, things like:

- How does it regenerate spells?

- How does it behave with a soul blade and similar subclasses?

- How does it behave with things such as invisibility?

- What about Solo or Party scenarios?

 

I threw a Swash just for fun, and it made me wonder what's the point in classes and resource management, when I can spam stuff as eternum with the Brilliant thingy...odd. 🤔

I gotta say, gave your build another chance, and I'm glad I did.

Having 3 resources of which 2 are renewable and synergistic is so empowering. It's a skill-fest. I love how the build erases the Might-dependant drawback of Blood Mages, and also how it forces me to an aggressive playstyle. It feels a bit harder than a Spellblade to me, but I believe this is mostly because I played Mages and Rogues to eternity, while Monks never really clicked to me in Deadfire...until now.

It makes me wonder if a Transcendent would be as fun...would it too?

Yes, I do always buy all the good stuff. Then Digsite for testing. Me and Éder.

Will try again with another setup of skills.

Yes, I've been playing Wizards and other classes a bit. Monks are new in this installment tho, helwalker being a first timer.

One blood sacrifice took about 35 HP...I had more wounds than I could spend, and needed to get a cast. Seems a bit suicidal...what am I missing?

I will give it a shot. Max Dex, Per, and Int. 

Should be a beast. Sword and dagger good enough for starters? I suppose the summoned staff may come in handy...will miss my fog.

35 minutes ago, Boeroer said:

I'd recommend Sage. With Stunning Surge (and Citzal's Spirit Lance) you effectively have three renewable resource pools for most of the fights. Add Swift Flurry and later Hearbeat Drumming.

Nalpasca or Helwalker would be my pick. Helwalker especially if you also want to cast damaging spells frequently. With those two subclasses you can use Deleterious Alacrity of Motion to not only speed you up but also to gain wounds in a controlled way (via moderate self damage). You'll also gain wounds from Blood Sacrifice.

Monk's Turning Wheel (up to +10 INT) is just awesome for wizard spells.

Also the Monk side has more benefical effects than a Rogue. Stuff like Swift Flurry or Lightning Strikes, Crucible of Suffering, Clarity of Agony and even Blade Turning can be prolonged with Wall of Draining. 

Stats aren't that important and depend on how you play the character and also on the subclass. For example a Helwalker can get away with 10 MIG since he'll get up to +10 from his wounds - and that will also scale up the self damage of Blood Sacrifice etc. - you don't want to kill yourself. Maybe also don't lower CON too much. 

Gear will come together while you play, some nice items for a Sage could be Hylea's Talons (more wounds) or Healing Hands (nice in combination with Wall of Draining), the Abraham pet, everything that boosts INT further (for example Heaven's Cacophony and Charm of Bones = bigger lance AoE).

Certain abilities (besides Stunning Surge) are really fun with Spirit Lance: Efficient Anguish, Skyward Kick and Instruments of Pain (which lets you stay of of melee range and allows you to wear lighter armor).  

   

Thank you so much for your reply. So... 10, 15, 15, 21, 19, 10?

I'm trying to make my mind on which of these 2 baddies I should roll.

Spellblade: Stealth, pop a fireball. buff up, enjoy some melee, return to casting once guile runs out. Pretty straightforward.

Sage: Here the appeal comes from 2 renewable resources. Nuke and sac, buff, join melee once wounds are full. A clean cycle.

Yes, in both cases I would pop Citzal once unlocked, tho I'd like some flexibility besides that.

 

What I would like to hear:

1. Which Class (and subclass) to complement Blood Mage?

2. What stats and gear?

3. Insert advice here

 

Thank you so much, happy rolling everyone!

On 11/1/2019 at 5:53 AM, SnigTheAxe said:

Just wanted to share a few portraits i'm using. Thanks to some of the community for helping me out with them.

Any watercolor for those yet?

Precisely. Wood Elves get a Dex boon, Pale Elves could get something on the Int side.

Or perhaps both could mimic the Human boost, just shifted to +(?) Pen, and +15% Duration. Or Crit Chance.

Years later, Elves still need love. They are "known for their speed and intellect". Yet, there's nothing of the latter.

 

Humans get damage boost and Acc, Elves need something for casters. Pale elves could get it, especially.