Ascaloth
-
Posts
251 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Content Type
Profiles
Forums
Blogs
Posts posted by Ascaloth
-
-
7 hours ago, Seccirsin said:
Interesting build.
The only downside being it's very late and you won't be able to enjoy it as much.True, sadly. That said, it does still prove its worth in four of the hardest fights in the entire game.
-
1 minute ago, Manveru123 said:
This is a fantastic build for Eder (at least it used to be, no idea if anything changed:
Well, I appreciate it. But I should probably be clearer as to what I meant; when I said I was looking for a good build for Eder, I meant one that was entirely mine, crafted by myself.
-
46 minutes ago, Manveru123 said:
Are you running your builds together in a party? Because that sounds like it would be cool. Just missing Eder and Watcher now
I actually switch all the Companions and Sidekicks in and out of the party depending on which encounters I feel they will contribute most in. Part of it is also me testing as many build ideas as I can, in the hope I can eventually manage to come up with one good build for each of then.
The build I've posted this year are those I feel I've already perfected with my old Fate Testarossa and Cunning Duelist saves, and I'm going to start a new playthrough to polish up the builds for the rest.
Eder is actually one of the tougher ones; guy is Ol' Reliable, but I've yet to figure out something that can actually make him pop. Was testing a Riposte build the last two times, but it's not super exciting even if it works... maybe I'll try something else in the new run
-
4 minutes ago, Boeroer said:
Sure - I think it produces the most hit rolls on a single enemy which is very reliable. Combined with the then reliable damage output it's great.
But an empowered AoE pulse (like Chillfog) could theoretically produce more hit rolls if you can reach enough enemies I think? Of course it will take longer to accumulate them. It may be that Wall spells don't work because they have some weird hazard mechanic that prevents that hit rolls are tied to the actual char who cast it in some cases (see Arkemyr's Brilliant Departure with Wall spells which won't break the invisibility).
Just trying to find a way to keep your initial idea but somehow enable multiclassing.
It's great that there's a wizard build that doesn't (kind of) force you to pick Bloodmage. Imagine an Evoker who empowers Missile Salvo with all the gear and then the double cast kicks in.
Welp, now I'm going to have to see whether Least Unstable Coil would work with stuff like Chill Fog and Malignant Cloud now.
That said, there's another reason why I chose the spell that produces the most hit rolls on a single enemy; as you can see from the images above, that means this interaction also works with the Megabosses. Those are precisely the encounters where Aloth gets the most use out of going demigod.
-
1 minute ago, Boeroer said:
Haha - hilarious! Late game stuff - but what a great synergy of items and one single ability.
But... shouldn't that multiple-Tier-3-inspiration trick also work with other abilities that do multiple attack rolls? Like pulsing stuff (Chillfog, Walls, Beams, Freezing Pillar) or Minor/Concussive/Bounding Missiles so that you could also use this with a multiclass build? Minor Missiles wouldn't even need the Weyc's Wand since it auto-hits anyways...?
Yes, I actually got the idea from some other thread I read a few months back, where someone demonstrated the same interaction for Least Unstable Coil with the Chanter's Thrice Was She Wronged/Her Revenge Swept Invocation. That's actually the idea that inspired me to wonder whether I could get the same effect with the Missile Salvo.
As for other spell options, the 'pulsing' spells didn't even cross my mind; it's certainly worth testing out. As for the other Minoletta spells... yeah, it's true. That said, the Least Unstable Coil hands out Inspirations randomly, so I figured you want a spell that hits as many times as possible to maximize the chances of getting all six Inspirations; and as far as I know, the Empowered Missile Salvo dishes out more hits than any of its lesser cousins, even if you Empower them.
-
The truth of the Painted Masks was a revelation that shook Aloth to the core. As he continued on his journey with the Watcher of Caed Nua, he found himself questioning his effectiveness of his work regarding the Leaden Key, and doubting in his own ability to see his cause through. But then the Defiant landed on the Black Isle, and the party arrived at the Halls Obscured.
Although the Elf was as shocked as anyone else in the party at the horrors witnessed in the Collections, the seed of a whole new scheme was planted in Aloth's mind when he saw the Archives. And by the time they were done with everything they had come to accomplish and were making to leave, that seed germinated and bore fruit.
After all, he may have spent much effort to little avail over the last few years trying to track down each and every cell of the Leaden Key... but if there were ever any records on where in all Eora they could be found, would they not be located somewhere in the Central Stacks?
On top of that, the Watcher had just so conveniently disposed of the Oracle, the Halls' erstwhile caretaker. Plus, with the passing of Fyonlecg, there was a gap in the leadership of the Hand Occult, and the accoutrements of the Weyc were right there for his taking...
With that in mind, Aloth resolved to seize the opportunity which had presented itself. In the aftermath of their encounter with Eothas at Ukaizo, Aloth claimed what he needed for his next task, bade farewell to the Watcher, and chartered a ship to his next destination.
So see nothing of Weyc Engferth, for she watches you still.
===================================
The Weyc Engferth, Ultimate Edition
===================================
Difficulty: PotD v5.0.0.0040
--------------------------------------------------------------
Class: Wizard
--------------------------------------------------------------
Race: Wood Elf
--------------------------------------------------------------
Background: Aedyr (Gentry)
--------------------------------------------------------------
Stats (char creation, no Berath's Blessings):
MIG: 12
CON: 10
DEX: 15
PER: 15
INT: 16
RES: 10
--------------------------------------------------------------
Active Skill: Any
Passive Skill: Any
--------------------------------------------------------------
Weapon Proficiencies:
Rapier (a)Scepter (a)
Small Shield ®
Wand ®
Sword ®
Battle Axe
Quarterstaff
--------------------------------------------------------------
Abilities (a=auto, r=recommended, !=important)
PL1
Wizard
Minoletta's Minor Missiles (a) (!)
Thrust of Tattered Veils (!)
PL2
Wizard
Mirrored Images ®
Infuse with Vital Essence
Combusting Wounds (!)
PL3
Wizard
Deleterious Alacrity of Motion
Llengrath's Displaced Image
Arcane Dampener (!)
PL4
Wizard
Minor Arcane Reflection ®
Flame Shield
Pull of Eora ®
PL5
Wizard
Blast of Frost
Ryngrim's Enervating Terror
Llengrath's Safeguard ®
PL6
Wizard
Minoletta's Precisely Piercing Burst
Chain Lightning
Common
Spell Resistance
PL7
Wizard
Wall of Draining (!)
Tayn's Chaotic Orb
Common
Penetrating Empower ®
Potent Empower ®
PL8
Wall of Many Colors ®
Kalakoth's Freezing Rake
Temporal Cocoon
Common
Great Soul (!)
PL9
Wizard
Minoletta's Missile Salvo (!)
Petrification
Common
Prestige (!)
---------------------------------------------------------------
Items (*=additional enchantments; !=important, r=recommended):
Weapon set 1: The Weyc's Wand (soulbound, Wael's Sight!) (!), The Weyc's Oracular Focus (Strengthened Enlarge Shield, Lasting Channeled Shield ®)
Weapon set 2: Magran's Favor (Blazing Core, Enduring Flame), Griffin's Blade (Hound's Courage*®) ®
Chest: Robes of the Weyc (soulbound, Mirrored Empower®, Omnipotence!) (!)
Helmet: The Mask of the Weyc ®
Amulet: The Third Eye ®
Grimore/Trinket: Ninagauth's Teachings (!)/Iron-clasped Grimoire (!)
Cloak: Shroud of the Phantasm (!)
Gloves: Firethrower's Gloves ®
Ring: Kuaru's Prize ®
Ring: Ring of Boundless Stars
Belt: Least Unstable Coil (!)
Boots: Vithrack Silk Slippers ®
-----------------------------------------------------------------
When I theorycraft in Deadfire, I usually prefer to work on multi-class builds. That's because I enjoy finding synergies between the skills of both classes, and putting together something that works better than the sum of its parts.
But Aloth is the only exception to that rule to date, because the Wizard's PL8 and PL9 spells are just that good, and I've yet to figure out any synergies that can match their power in either of his multiclass options. On top of that, Aloth is the only one amongst the Companions and Sidekicks who can be a single-class pure Wizard (Fassina doesn't count).
Because of this, I had to search for synergies that work with him through equipment, and I eventually found that the Weyc set from the Forgotten Sanctum DLC offers a truly powerful synergy with Aloth like nothing else I've seen so far.
Therefore, while Aloth is always an asset to the party throughout (because Wizard), he becomes practically indispensable after FS, especially for the toughest encounters in the entire game.
(Note on “Ultimate Edition” builds: With the release of the Ultimate Edition on PS4 and XBox, there will be many first-time players of Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire who will be searching for builds online, only to find that most available builds were created for earlier versions of the game. While many of those are still viable even in the final version of Deadfire, this would not be apparent to new players; thus, builds such as this will be tagged as “Ultimate Edition” to indicate that they’ve been tested for version 5.0.0 of Deadfire, including all DLCs.)
The Wrath of the Weyc
And it all stems from a couple of simple interactions; when soulbound to a Wizard like Aloth, The Weyc's Wand offers the Wael's Sight enchantment, which converts 100% of Misses into Grazes on an Empowered attack.
Which doesn't sound all that powerful, to be sure. But here's the thing; it applies to every single missile that's produced by the PL9 Wizard spell Minoletta's Missile Salvo. That means it doesn't matter how high an enemy's defenses are, Aloth...
Just...
Can't...
****ing...
...Miss.
Of course, Aloth can only pull this off once per encounter, so even that isn't enough to take out the Megabosses by itself. But while the sheer damage that a laser-guided Missile Salvo can do is spectacular in its own right, the true value lies in its synergy with the Least Unstable Coil; the Empowered Being enchantment that's also activated with the Empowerment of Minoletta's Missile Salvo gives a random Tier 3 Inspiration with every hit scored by a spell. And apparently not only do Grazes count for proccing it, but Empowered Being activates for every single laser-guided missile produced by the Salvo.
This means that after the Wael-Empowered Minoletta's Missile Salvo hits, Aloth will achieve demigod mode with all six Tier 3 Inspirations active on his person.
And giving Aloth the Robes of the Weyc means his Empowerment of Minoletta's Missile Salvo also activates the Omnipotence enchantment on the armor, which gives the Brilliant Inspiration to all nearby party members as well. So keep a Priest nearby Aloth when he fires it off, and you can spam Salvation of Time to extend Aloth's demigod-hood until the end of the encounter, no matter how long it lasts.
At this point, the only question left is; how well can you make use of all that power while it lasts?
Final Thoughts
Pros:
- Empowerment gives a single use of Minoletta's Missile Salvo that can bypass all defenses, even that of the Megabosses.
- It also gives Aloth Energized, Robust, Swift, Intuitive, Brilliant, and Courageous in one go.
- It even gives nearby allies Brilliant as well, so a Priest can keep all his Inspirations going with Salvation of Time spam.
- For the cherry on the cake, this build can be replicated by any Watcher or hireling Wizard with better-optimised Races and Attributes.
Cons:
- Cannot be replicated with Wizard multiclasses (no access to PL9 Wizard spells), Conjurors and Transmuters (no access to Evocation), or Blood Mages (no access to Empowerment).
- Doesn't do anything to help with the stick up Aloth's arse, unfortunately.
-
8
-
The earliest I know it starts is during SSS. Not sure if it can start even earlier than that, though.
-
On 2/25/2020 at 5:21 PM, Seccirsin said:
Good job m8.
I like it when people think outside the box, experiment and try goofy stuff, without concern of popular opinion and 'meta'. It's also a great motivator for other people to do the same.
Even if I personally hate Xoti's guts, this is a fantastic build.
Thanks.
-
4 hours ago, Boeroer said:
Grave Calling doesn't have higher base damage than Modwyr. It just has a +20% additive bonus from "sharp".
All heavy one handed weapons have the same base damage.
I would value Modwyr over Stalker's Patience and Grave Calling because of dual damage. Spears are pierce-only and sabres slash-only. If you like to switch weapons that's no big deal though.
Additive dmg bonuses like sharp or Mohora Taga are less potent than lashes (be it Modwyr, Grave Calling or Stalker's Patience which has a raw DoT lash). Because those are multiplicative.
Also good Riposte weapons are Battle Axes. Bleeding Cuts works kind of similar to Stalker's Patience but the DoT does stack. They usually pay for this with +50% recovery but this doesn't matter for Riposte. Plus is that every Battle Axe has this and you don't have to pick up a unique first. Same thing as with spears and sabres: only one dmg type.
A great Riposte weapon although it hasn't particularly high dmg per hit: Kapana Taga.
Used it several times on Swashbuckler Edér with Cadhu Scalth, Reckless Brigandine, Mob Stance and Entonia Signet as well as White Which Mask.
Ok, but Grave Calling has the additive bonus plus the stacking Freeze lash that can go up to 20% or 30% depending on which upgrade you take, wouldn't that give it an edge over other 1H weapons in terms of damage/hit?
On another note, how does Wintertide Bulwark stack up against Cadhu Scath? Fully upgraded it comes with a Riposte-like effect, and I think it may give more Deflection than the latter. Not sure how to compare both though, and it doesn't come with the damage reduction for one.
-
7 hours ago, Boeroer said:
Afaik it's Concelhaut's Draining Touch (at least the base damage is the highest). It's also very good with Riposting because of draining. Requires a wizard of course.
I guess Grave Calling is one of the tops as well. Also its enchantments like the paralyze after certain stacks are pretty powerful for Riposting.
Modwyr will be good as well.
Well, Eder isn't a Wizard, so I guess that's out.
I know Modwyr had the 20% Burn/Freeze lash, but how does that stack up against the higher base damage + lash of Grave Calling?
29 minutes ago, Kaylon said:The weapon with the highest damage per hit is Stalker's Patience. Upgraded it does 15% dmg per tick (3 times with 10int). The dot doesn't stack with itself, but for riposte it doesn't matter.
Good to know, thanks! How does it stack up against Mohora Tanga with the +% melee damage that scales with Survival, that being the Skill I'm likely going to pump on Eder anyway?
For that matter, which other 1H weapons have similar damage per hit? Is there somewhere I can read about it?
-
What's the 1H weapon that does the most damage per hit (not DPS, per hit)?
I'm currently thinking it's Grave Calling, because it's a Saber with a Freeze lash. But I don't know where to begin accounting for alternatives that might scale with stacks or Skills...
I'm asking because I'm trying to theorycraft an Eder build that focuses on Riposte.
-
On 2/17/2020 at 9:52 PM, Manveru123 said:
This is fantastic and I hope you make more
That's the plan. I hope to eventually post Ultimate Edition builds (including updated versions of previous Companion Builds I posted in the past) for every Companion and Sidekick.
May take some time though, since some theorycraft builds still need testing, and I'm running low on time these days. I'll need one more play through at least to fully test some builds I have in mind.
-
3
-
1
-
-
Oh yeah, I've got a doozy of a concept for PoE3 here.
The story starts about a generation after the events of Deadfire, when the effects of Eothas breaking the Wheel are becoming more apparent i.e. Hollowborn births, proliferation of blights, world out of balance... you know, the works. And your protagonist is not the Watcher of Caed Nua we know (who's long dead by this time) but a brand new character, justifying starting from Level 1 yet again.
That said, he/she retreads the story beats of the first PoE by being in the wrong place at the wrong time, and ending up as an Awakened Watcher in his/her own right. But our Watcher's flashbacks revolves around one mysterious figure in particular, and is compelled to travel all over Eora to make sense of these visions and find out who this figure from the past is, for the sake of their own sanity if nothing else.
Our protagonist goes globetrotting, and sees how the breaking of the Wheel has affected all the denizens of Eora. They tend to get flashbacks when they arrive at a new land, but where the flashbacks in PoE1 were simply dialogue options, the ones you get in PoE3 actually lets you control the mysterious figure from the past (you even get to decide what the past figure's stats/Classes/race/gender/avatar are), and carry out the actions and decisions that the mysterious figure made back then on their own adventure. When your Watcher returns to the present day, they and their Companions can retrace those steps, and see how the choices of the past have made their mark on the present day.
After some adventuring and sleuthing, we arrive at a revelation; turns out our protagonist is, or rather was, the Watcher of Caed Nua. Unlike in PoE1 where we were chasing Thaos, we've been chasing our own past self in this game all along. Our visions have been following the Watcher of Caed Nua immediately after the events of Deadfire, how he/she made their mark on Eora after the breaking of the Wheel, and maybe how and why they eventually had to meet their demise.
But since the Wheel is long broken, how did the Watcher of Caed Nua reincarnate... Literal God-dammit, Berath.
Now here comes the real kicker; Eora was not a static setting throughout the whole game. All of the things you did as the Watcher of Caed Nua in the flashbacks? Those actually affected various details in the world that your current Watcher has been travelling through. Everything you did in the past had an effect on the present, and had you done things differently as the Watcher of Caed Nua, you would have experienced an entirely different story as the current Watcher altogether.
It's like how the choices you made in PoE affected certain things in Deadfire, except this time you're kind of playing through both campaigns concurrently, and seeing the changes happen in (kind-of) real time.
I mean, hell. The PoE setting is practically perfect for these kinds of time-warp shenanigans.
-
On 2/8/2020 at 9:59 PM, Madscientist said:
What would you chose as race and stats if you use it as player character?
For race; Hearth Orlan for the +2 PER and the Minor Threat racial talent, which gives another Hit-to-Crit conversion if another ally is attacking the same target. This actually means that Mirke - since she can also go Fighter/Monk - can do just as well with this build, if not better. That said, I prefer to make the much more interesting choice of Monk/Streetfighter for her, so that leaves Rekke with this build.
For stats, max PER for accuracy; high DEX (doesn't matter with Blade Cascade, but your PC should still be useful as a DPS until you can get Scordeo's Edge in late-game), dump RES.
-
===================================
The Hound of Yezuha, Ultimate Edition
===================================
Difficulty: PotD v5.0.0.0040
--------------------------------------------------------------
Class: Brawler (Fighter + Monk)
--------------------------------------------------------------
Race: Storm Human
--------------------------------------------------------------
Background: Yezuha (Missionary)
--------------------------------------------------------------
Stats (char creation, no Berath's Blessings):
MIG: 11
CON: 10
DEX: 15
PER: 14
INT: 14
RES: 11
--------------------------------------------------------------
Active Skill: Athletics ®
Passive Skill: Any
--------------------------------------------------------------
Weapon Proficiencies:
Sword (a)
Greatsword (a)
Small Shield ®
Sabre (!)
Battle Axe (!)
Flail
Hatchet
--------------------------------------------------------------
Abilities (a=auto, r=recommended, !=important)
PL1
Fighter
Knock Down (a)
Disciplined Barrage (!)
Monk
Swift Strikes (a)
Force of Anguish
PL2
Fighter
Fighter Stances
Confident Aim
Monk
Clarity of Agony
Common
Two Weapon Style (!)
PL3
Fighter
Disciplined Strike (!)
Mule Kick ®
Monk
Swift Flurry (!)
Efficient Anguish ®
PL4
Fighter
Charge ®
Weapon Specialization ®
Monk
Thunderous Blows (!)
Duality of Mortal Presence ®
PL5
Fighter
Armored Grace (!)
Conqueror Stance
Monk
Enervating Blows ®
Common
Uncanny Luck ®
PL6
Fighter
Clear Out
Monk
Turning Wheel ®
Flagellant’s Path ®
Common
Improved Critical ®
PL7
Fighter
Unbreakable
Weapon Mastery ®
Monk
Heartbeat Drumming (!)
---------------------------------------------------------------
Items (*=additional enchantments; !=important, r=recommended):
Weapon set 1: Scordeo’s Edge (Blade Cascade*!, Adaptive*!) (!), Slayer’s Claw (!)
Weapon set 2: Unarmed, Tuotilo’s Palm (Balanced Shield*, Pugilist*) ®
Chest: Contender’s Armor (Heavy Mobility*) ®
Helmet: Fair Favor (!)
Amulet: Cauldron Shard (!)
Cloak: Cape of the Falling Star
Gloves: Burglar’s Gloves ®
Ring: Finality’s Claim (!)
Ring: Ring of Prosperity’s Fortune ®
Belt: Ngati’s Girdle ®
Boots: Rakhan Field Boots (!)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
As Companions and Sidekicks go, Rekke is one of the most vanilla as they come. Which is not a bad thing in itself; his stats lends itself to a DPS build, and his vanilla class choices make him very adaptable, which is more than can be said for several of his peers (looking at you, Fassina).
Since pretty much any DPS build would be viable for Rekke, I decided instead to design a build that won’t be realized until near the end-game, but sets him up to take on one of the Megabosses in particular. Using some fairly simple interactions between his class abilities and specific weapon enchantments, this build makes Rekke an interrupt-lock machine that can, with the proper support, take on his intended target mano-a-mano.
Thus the name of his build, the Hound of Yezuha; it is not only a testament of Rekke’s ferocity in battle, but it’s also a tribute to the man who killed the Mountain.
(Note on “Ultimate Edition” builds: With the release of the Ultimate Edition on PS4 and XBox, there will be many first-time players of Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire who will be searching for builds online, only to find that most available builds were created for earlier versions of the game. While many of those are still viable even in the final version of Deadfire, this would not be apparent to new players; thus, builds such as this will be tagged as “Ultimate Edition” to indicate that they’ve been tested for version 5.0.0 of Deadfire, including all DLCs.)
Cutting the Voracious Mountain Down to Size
Apart from its own set of nasty tricks, Hauani o Whe also hits like a mack truck. However, it has the lowest Deflection of the four Megabosses, and is also vulnerable to interrupts. Therefore, the trick to defeating the Voracious Mountain is to exploit these two weak points mercilessly.
And the Hound of Yezuha can achieve this through a couple of fairly simple interactions.
Firstly, the Slayer’s Claw increases any Might Inspirations applied to its wield by one tier. In the hands of a Monk, that means Thunderous Blows doesn’t give Tenacious, but Energized instead; that’s why I made Rekke a Fighter/Monk, and it guarantees that he’ll interrupt with every crit.
Pair that with Scordeo’s Edge with the Adaptive enchantment, and Rekke will work his way up to +20 Accuracy with both weapons in time. Add the hit-to-crit bonuses from Disciplined Strikes (Intuitive) and Fair Favor (which applies to Scordeo’s Edge), and you get a Rekke who can crit and interrupt the giant ooze with practically every other strike.
(This also makes Rekke ideal as a mage-hunter, which is why I gave him both Charge and Flagellant's Path; so he can dive into the backline and immediately start dismantling enemy spellcasters.)
Double down on that with the Blade Cascade enchantment, and now whenever it activates, Rekke can ignore Recovery and interrupt-lock Hauani for around 5-6 seconds each time.
Pretty sweet, isn’t it?
Now imagine what happens when Rekke has a Priest and Cipher to provide the Ancestor’s Memory-Salvation of Time combo.
That’s right; Rekke can now wail away at the giant ooze throughtout the whole fight, keeping it pancaked and unable to do much of anything whatsoever, all the way until it ****ing dies.
(On a side note, Valkyrie Xoti is ideal as the Priest for the Hauani o Whe fight, because she singlehandedly turns the Symbiote debuff from an annoyance into an asset for your party. The little oozes are OHKs with The Twin Eels, and each one heals the whole party every time.)
Sure, you’d still have to watch out and make sure that the smaller oozes don’t merge back into the big one. But properly supported, the Hound of Yezuha is all the DPS you’re going to need for this Megaboss fight, including the clean-up after the hard part.
Enduring the Crushing Weight
But to get the Blade Cascade started in the first place, Rekke has to begin the encounter with attacks on Hauani o Whe at normal recovery. Therefore he’s still going to take some hits in the first few seconds, and needs sufficient protection to help him survive for at least that long.
The one thing to keep in mind about Hauani’s attacks is that it does Crush/Corrode damage. This means that the most useful type of armor against the giant ooze are Breastplates, since it is the armor type with the highest AR that doesn’t have a penalty against either Crush or Corrode.
And when you think about Breastplates, the obvious choice is the Devil of Caroc Breastplate, which remains one of if not the best Unique Armor in Deadfire even in the Ultimate Edition. And while you can certainly give it to Rekke, I would actually not recommend it… precisely because it’s so good, I’m assuming it’s likely going to someone who needs it more (like your Watcher) and therefore not available for Rekke.
With that context in mind, I’ll suggest the next best thing instead. And in Rekke’s case, that’s the Contender’s Armor from the SSS DLC, with the Heavy Mobility enchantment. With high Athletics and Armored Grace, it’s one of only 3 armors in the entire game that can potentially let the wearer attack even faster than if wearing no armor at all (the others being DoC Breastplate and Miscreant’s Leather); so even without Blade Cascade, Rekke can still attack at a brisk pace with this setup.
To further boost Rekke’s AR against Hauani’s attacks, I also gave him the Cauldron Shard amulet and Rakhan Field Boots for additional Corrode AR, as well as Ngati’s Girdle for more Crush AR. Cauldron Shard also comes with a 20% chance to turn Hauani’s Corrode attacks into healing for Rekke instead, helping his survivability against the ooze that much further.
On top of that, Rekke gets the Finality’s Claim Ring, which gives him a 25% chance to ignore its attacks altogether (it actually reflects the attack back to Hauani, but the giant ooze doesn’t take any damage from its own reflected attacks, so).
Final Thoughts
Pros:
- Is set up to be your MVP during the Hauani o Whe Megaboss fight.
- Also makes him useful as a mage-hunter, so you can use him in that capacity in normal fights.
- Is perfectly viable even with a vanilla Brawler like Rekke.
Cons:
- Can only be fully realized as a build near endgame, because Scordeo's Edge is key to this build.
- Going for this build locks you into the Slayer path in the SSS DLC, as Slayer's Claw is key to this build.
- Foregoes all defensive abilities available to Fighters/Monks in favour of more DPS, so Rekke will need party support to survive in more difficult encounters.
- Requires Priest and Cipher support to reach it's full potential, which can limit your choices of party composition.
Last but not least, see the attached file for the AI script I created for Rekke as the Hound of Yezuha
Rekke Custom (Brawler) (Fighter Monk) (08e33d71-36e8-46eb-9c8d-b3af9b6cdbac).customai
-
5
-
-
Guess we're counting on you to get the Ultimate Build thread set up then @Boeroer!
-
19 hours ago, AndreaColombo said:
Haven't been active over here in a long, long time—but I just had to login and give you props for another fantastic build!
Makes me want to play again ... and right when I was thinking, if I play again, I'm probably gonna ditch Xoti!
If you're not using it on your main, you could give her DoC's breastplate until you get Furrante's. Looks really good with the helm and the sword (which by the way is also mid-to-late game because it comes in Beast of Winter.)
Thanks.
Another armor that could work before you get Furrante's is the Contender Armor in SSS. You can give it an enchantment that gives Recovery reduction which scales with Athletics; perfect for Xoti, since she's maxing it anyway to make use of The Undying Burden.
I realize there's not so many of us left here these days, but assuming folks here like this build, I'm thinking about putting it up in the Project Eternity subreddit so more people can see it, especially new players coming from the PS4 and XBox releases.
Also, I'll see whether I can put up more Companion and Sidekick builds over the next few weeks. Might be tough since I'm juggling with changed life circumstances these days, but we'll see.
-
===================================
The Valkyrie of Gaun, Ultimate Edition
===================================
Difficulty: PotD v5.0.0.0040
--------------------------------------------------------------
Class: Contemplative (Harvester of Gaun + Sister of the Reaping Moon)
--------------------------------------------------------------
Race: Meadow-Savannah Human
--------------------------------------------------------------
Background: Readceras (Farmer)
--------------------------------------------------------------
Stats (char creation, no Berath's Blessings):
MIG: 11
CON: 12
DEX: 15
PER: 12
INT: 14
RES: 11
--------------------------------------------------------------
Active Skill: Athletics (!)
Passive Skill: Religion (!)
--------------------------------------------------------------
Weapon Proficiencies:
Small Shield (a)
Dagger (a)
Hatchet (a)
Crossbow (a)
Quarterstaff
War Bow ®
Greatsword ®
Flail
Arbalest
--------------------------------------------------------------
Abilities (a=auto, r=recommended, !=important)
PL1
Priest
Blessed Harvest (a)
Restoration (a)
Suppress Affliction
Monk
Swift Strikes (a)
Force of Anguish
PL2
Priest
Withdraw (a)
Spiritual Weapon
Monk
Clarity of Agony
Common
Two Handed Style ®
Weapon and Shield Style
PL3
Priest
Vile Thorns (a)
Consecrated Ground ®
Dire Blessing (!)
Monk
Swift Flurry (!)
Efficient Anguish
PL4
Priest
Circle of Protection (a)
Devotions for the Faithful (!)
Monk
Thunderous Blows ®
Duality of Mortal Presence (!)
Rooting Pain (!)
PL5
Priest
Wicked Briars (a)
Revive the Fallen ®
Barring Death’s Door (!)
Practiced Healer ®
Monk
Enervating Blows
PL6
Priest
Minor Intercession (a)
Salvation of Time (!)
Monk
Turning Wheel (!)
Iron Wheel (!)
Common
Improved Critical ®
PL7
Priest
Wall of Thorns (a)
Resurrection (!)
Cleansing Flame
Monk
Heartbeat Drumming (!)
---------------------------------------------------------------
Items (*=additional enchantments; !=important, r=recommended):
Weapon set 1: The Twin Eels (Renewal*!) (!)
Weapon set 2: Saint Omaku’s Mercy (Sacrifice of Saints*!, Galawain’s Harry*) (!)
Chest: Furrante’s Breastplate (Love of Life*!, Intervention*!)
Helmet: Helm of the Falcon ®
Amulet: Bone Setter’s Torc (!)
Trinket: Waidwen's Sundial
Cloak: Nemnok’s Cloak (!)
Gloves: Hylea’s Talons ®
Ring: Halgot’s Warmth (!)
Ring: Voidward ®
Belt: The Undying Burden (!)
Boots: Footprints of Ahu Taka (!)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Xoti is one of the most maligned Companions in the game for many reasons, not least of which concerns her role in the party. As a Harvester of Gaun, she’s a variation on the Priest of Eothas that doesn’t offer that much of interest compared to Priests of Skaen or Wael; as a Sister of the Reaping Moon, her starting lantern and sickle doesn’t give her enough DPS to take advantage of her subclass’s ability to gain Wounds on kill, and is crippled even further by the increased Wound cost for her Monk abilities.
And as a Contemplative, she loses access both to the useful Tier VIII and IX Priest spells, as well as 2 PLs on her Monk fists; with no apparent synergy, a multiclass Xoti can seem to combine the worst parts of both her subclasses. Small wonder then, that most would recommend keeping her either a single-class Priest or Monk.
That said, there is a way to make a multiclass Xoti not only viable, but also more effective as a combat support specialist. With this build, Xoti can keep her party members topped up on health while contributing to damage at the same time, generate plenty of Wounds to feed her increased ability costs, and make her party that much tougher simply by being there; in short, she’ll truly fulfill her role as Gaun’s Chooser of the Slain.
(Note on “Ultimate Edition” builds: With the release of the Ultimate Edition on PS4 and XBox, there will be many first-time players of Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire who will be searching for builds online, only to find that most available builds were created for earlier versions of the game. While many of those are still viable even in the final version of Deadfire, this would not be apparent to new players; thus, builds such as this will be tagged as “Ultimate Edition” to indicate that they’ve been tested for version 5.0.0 of Deadfire, including all DLCs.)
Xoti, the Reaping
Most people who note the ability of Xoti’s Monk subclass to gain Wounds on Kill seem to think that she has to be built as a DPS to make use of it, and thus are left disappointed when Xoti’s Sickle inevitably fails to make the cut as a weapon capable of dealing sufficient damage. And while letting her rely on her Monk fists lets her do decent DPS, it only works best for her as a single-class Monk; making her a Contemplative makes her Monk fists less effective due to the loss of PL.
That’s why her sickle as well as Xoti’s Lantern are usually seen as trap choices for Xoti DPS builds; it would be a different story if her lantern could be used as a bashing shield, and both it and the sickle scaled with Monk levels like Tuotilo’s Palm, but there’s no accounting for the dev’s design choices.
That said, I feel that’s the wrong way to look at it. To make use of her Wound gain on kill ability, I don’t think Xoti has to be a DPS. She doesn’t have to deliver that much damage, nor throw as many attacks as Monks tend to do.
All she needs to do is throw one good hit. Specifically, the last one.
With that in mind, the sickle and lantern still isn’t going to cut it; she needs a weapon that can help her killsteal her own party members as reliably as possible.
Ideally, the weapon would;
- Have high base damage so Xoti can land the one good hit for the kill; that pretty much means a 2H weapon.
- Has enchantments that helps with maximising the damage per hit as much as possible, and
- Comes with an on-kill effect to further incentivise Xoti making the kill.
Now, if you’re anything like me, you probably max’d out Xoti’s Religion passive skill as a reflection of her… evangelistic tendencies. That said, doing so makes one weapon in particular hit all three points above; specifically, The Twin Eels Greatsword.
The offensive potential of The Twin Eels lies in its Death’s Embrace enchantment, a Hit-to-Crit percentage that scales with Religion; in other words, perfect for Xoti who’s likely to have the most Religion in the party. This can be boosted with an additional Hit-to-Crit roll from the Bone Setter’s Torc Amulet, increased attack speed thanks to the Helm of the Falcon, and complemented with the Swift Flurry-Heartbeat Drumming Monk combo.
And the fact that Xoti can gain Wounds for each kill means that she can access a synergy specific to her alone; it turns Rooting Pain from a retaliatory passive into an offensive one, since Xoti earning 3 Wounds per kill also means she gets 3 rolls of the dice to activate it on enemies unlucky enough to be in the vicinity.
And when all of this comes together, it can look like this;
Also, there are a number of weapons with on-kill effects in the game, but only The Twin Eels has a Heal-on-kill that also scales with Xoti’s Religion skill. With max Religion, plus healing boosts from the Love of Life enchantment on Furrante's Breastplate, Bone Setter’s Torc, Footprints of Ahu Taka and Practiced Healer, the Health that Xoti can heal with each killsteal can add up to a pretty decent amount indeed;
With this setup, Xoti is best played not as a DPS per se, but positioned just behind the frontline doing Priest things such as healing and buffing… until her party members have reduced an enemy to Near Death, at which point she becomes an opportunistic killstealer charging in to deliver the final blow, gaining Wounds and healing her party members when she lands it.
This let's Xoti contribute to the fight while not neglecting her healing duties, making the best of both her subclasses.
Xoti, the Sacrificing
With Furrante’s Breastplate, Xoti makes her party members that much tougher thanks to the Bodyguard enchantment, which makes them take 10% less damage as long as she sticks close to them. This comes with the flipside that Xoti herself takes 15% more damage from all sources, making her squishier than usual.
This would be bad in most cases, but as a Monk, it also helps to fuel her Wound generation as well, making it a win-win proposition.
She can double down on that with the Intervention enchantment, which gives her access to the Take the Hit ability usually reserved for single-classed Fighters. This makes her party members even tougher for a short period of time, at the cost of causing more damage to Xoti herself… fueling her Wound generation even further.
And at times when a party member is close to dying and desperately needs a burst heal, Xoti can provide with the Sacrifice of Saints enchantment from the Saint Omaku’s Mercy Warbow;
With max Religion, Xoti can heal any party member from dying up to near full Health once per Rest, which comes at the cost of Xoti herself eating Raw damage… which again fuels her Wound generation.
Along with Priest staples such as Restoration, Consecrated Ground, Revive the Fallen, Barring Death’s Door and Resurrection, Xoti can thus keep her party alive that much longer simply by being there. However, all this utility comes at a cost of making her pretty damn fragile.
So, how do I keep Xoti alive in the face of all this?
Xoti, the Undying
I do it by giving her The Undying Burden Belt, which reduces the incoming weapon damage Xoti suffers by up to 30% as she loses Health (it also gives her a second use of Second Wind, which is why I recommended Athletics as her active Skill). On top of it, I also gave her the Voidward Ring, which reduces the Raw damage she takes by 25%; very useful for minimising the damage taken from Sacrifice of Saints and Take the Hit in particular.
But the key piece of gear that really helps keep Xoti on her feet is Nemnok’s Cloak; while it makes Xoti even more squishy by making her take an additional 15% damage, it also gives her Spirit Shield and Ironskin when she falls below half Health. Together with Iron Wheel, Xoti can go up to 22 AR;
It certainly doesn’t hurt that the Cloak also gives Xoti a free Barring Death’s Door when she’s… well, at death’s door. And should all these defenses still not suffice to keep her from falling to 0 HP, the Renewal enchantment from The Twin Eels (which also scales Health regained with Religion) lets Xoti automatically revive for free once per Rest, letting her stand up to get right back it again;
This means that Xoti is capable of saving lost fights single-handedly, bringing her fallen party members back to their feet in turn.
All these means that despite taking more damage than the rest of the party, this build makes Xoti a tough cookie in her own right, and capable of filling in as an off-tank in a pinch.
Final Thoughts
Pros:
- Contributes to party DPS and Health at the same time by killstealing for fun and profit.
- Makes her party members tougher just by existing, and is capable of pulling them back from near death.
- Is unexpectedly tough in her own right, and can save seemingly-lost fights by her own hand.
Cons:
- Several key pieces of equipment are late-game gear (Furrante’s Breastplate, Nemnok’s Cloak), which means this build will not be fully realized until rather late in the game.
- Tier VIII and IX Priest and Monk abilities are some of the most powerful in Deadfire, which means the Valkyrie build, despite its effectiveness, still involves trade-offs.
- As effective as the Valkyrie of Gaun is, it doesn’t do anything to mitigate Xoti’s zealous and sometimes-annoying personality.
Last but not least, see the attached file for the AI script I created for Xoti as the Valkyrie of Gaun.
Xoti Custom (Contemplative) (Druid Monk Priest) (e38db4a0-68b9-4f2c-ac8a-5bd58d0a69e3).customai
-
10
-
-
So I just came across this thread, and it's a concern since I'm currently theory crafting a build that uses this interaction.
Is this still the case at this point?
-
3 minutes ago, thelee said:
enfeebled is only +50%, not doubling, fyi. still pretty good.
whynotboth.gif
Oh right, my bad.
Also fair point on the second part. That said, I'm trying to craft a Ydwin build, with a focus on "independently good" instead of needing another party member to make it work.
Besides, I can always go for both by giving, say, Eder/Mirke/Vatnir the Toxic Strike.
-
On 1/22/2020 at 5:24 AM, Boeroer said:
Also note the Perishing Strike only enfeebles after the weakening effect wears off - which will take more an more time the more levels you gain. Some dev really hated that ability...
True, I know that. But the catch here is this; how many DoTs can I stack during the Weakened phase, to have their durations doubled when it ticks to the Enfeebled phase?
Of course, I'll have to test this some more to see if it works as well as I hope. And also whether it doubling the duration of all the DoTs can more than make up for the escalating damage of Toxic Strike.
-
@Boeroer Nice, a lot of options to consider in the future.
I'm asking mostly because I'm theory crafting a build for Ydwin that turns her into something of a sadistic slasher villain type. It involves using the Seeker's Fang rapier to inflict the weapon-specific DoT and Perishing Strikes (for the Enfeeble and extension of DoTs) at the same time.
Then she'd pile more DoTs as she goes - Gouging Strike, Dripping Fangs from Spider Silk Robe, Disintegrate - and finish it with a Static Shell. Her target basically gets slowly cooked alive in her witch's cauldron, entirely helpless and beyond any hope of salvation.
Been racking my head for a while trying to figure how to further optimise this concept, and I'm pretty sure I've hit my limit there. If anyone can come up with an idea to make it even better, it'll be you.
-
I've been meaning to ask; are there any particular synergies with active DoTs that isn't so apparent?
I know Predator's Sense from Ranger Companion is one, but I don't know if there's any others.
-
Just for a reminder, Battle Axes are the one class of weapons in Deadfire that actually has 2H variants i.e. Amra and Oathbreaker's End. Both are solid choices for Barbarians too.
[COMPANION BUILD] The Weyc Engferth, Ultimate Edition
in Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire Characters Builds, Strategies & the Unity Engine (Spoiler Warning!)
Posted
Hmm, didn't really think about it as I figured that what would be "better-optimized" would be up to the player, but sure. Off the top of my head...
Yes, the obvious choice would be Nature Godlike, and you can go Old Vailia as the Culture so that you can take 20 INT to keep the demigod mode going as long as possible (doesn't matter so much once you can spam Salvation of Time and Wall of Draining, but you know). Push MIG up as far as you can go too, for the damage. Raise PER as much as you can, it'll help at lower levels even if it stops mattering once you have the upgraded Weyc's Wand.
Dump RES, it does nothing for you. And CON too, if you're feeling brave.
While forgoing the Mask won't break this build, it does give Concentration. So I hope you have an alternative way to get that at the start of the encounter, because nothing's worse than wasting an Empowered Missile Salvo to an interrupt.