Ascaloth

Got it too, fired it up for a quick test. Whatever changes may have occurred in this patch, it has still not fixed the issue with the Guardian of Ukaizo going AWOL. That is... kind of annoying.

I know you want this run to be "naked" and all that... but really, you should consider putting a Dancer Outfit on your guy.

Neriscyrlas also has Cloak of Death, which can be dangerous for your melee guys when she gets it up. But here's how to turn it back on her; get Aloth, have him learn Arcane Reflection, cast that when she casts Cloak of Death, and then have him hit the dragon with a melee weapon. Yeah, Cloak of Death does reflect and vanish + damage Neriscyrlas when that happens.

Oh. Does that mean you don't need me to test it anymore? Because that works for me as well, I've sort of hit a wall in terms of drafting out a theorycraft for this.

Well, this is the One Handed Style build I came up with. Sure, it's basically a Skald crit-farming build that probably doesn't match a DW equivalent in terms of DPS, but I had fun playing a character that had to out-think the opposition to achieve victory, as opposed to simply out-smashing or out-zapping them.

Ah. Well, I guess I'd either drop Dance of Death, or otherwise fall back to the old standby of Voidwheel. Then again, if I want to run with Dance of Death, I should probably go with a tankier setup anyway. I wonder if there's a one-handed weapon with self damage like Voidwheel? I went with Nalpazca for the increased effectiveness of Whiteleaf, so as the regen the health I would lose with this strategy. I don't think a no-subclass Monk can do that quite as well.

Berserker/Nalpazca with Oathbreaker's End, leaving the Berserker Frenzy's Confused Affliction unneutralized on purpose for extra defenses from Frostfur Cloak, and so that the Found Guilty AoE will hit the Ravager himself for more Monk Wounds, with the damage being mitigated with the Soul Void amulet and Whiteleaf. Currently looking to be my Watcher concept for an RDC run, with the RP background being a former Ruquapa who was dishonorably discharged from the Rauatai military for his drug habits, then went to the White March and met this old stoner called Zahua. But if Found Guilty has an attack roll like you said, that would mean Dance of Death isn't compatible with this strategy...

Is that with a Berzerker? And if so are you mitigating the confusion? Because if not then I'd say that is why. I purposely did not mitigate the confusion to see if I'd carnage myself. I don't with sabers but do with the axe? Is it a reach thing? Carnage is exempt from hurting the Berzerker itself (would be pretty bad if it wasn't). The Found Guilty proc is treated as a separate AoE skill/attack, therefore will hurt the user if they are confused. ...hold on. Anyone can take a screenshot of the Found Guilty description? Because if it works as described here, man. Have I got a devious idea for a theorycraft in mind.

@Cyrus_Blackfeather, Much appreciated. Well, let's get real here; the Duelist is certainly no tank or meatshield. Taking hits is just not what he's designed for, since he's more of a flanker and an opportunist than anything else. That said, that's the beauty of the Trickster subclass; Mirrored Image + Llengrath's Displaced Image is sufficient Deflection and assorted defenses to make up for his low Resolve, and he can stay on the frontlines quite a bit longer than you'd expect from a squishy Rogue. Plus, being exposed to melee often isn't quite as dangerous as it seems, especially when The Killers Froze Stiff or are spooked by Ryngrim's Repulsive Visage. And should things really go bad, that's also why the Duelist has several options for bailing out of a fight; Escape as the primary option, Shadowing Beyond for when he really needs a breather from getting molested so he can chug a potion, and The Fox from the Farmer Did Run and Leap + Blessed was Wengridh, Quickest of his Tribe for when he needs to help his whole party do the Yakety Sax. Plus Squid's Escape from the Squid's Grasp rapier for when things are going really bad, and once you have Gipon Prudensco with the Fight Another Day enchantment that gives Immunity to Disengagement, you can just run the Duelist out of a fight without all those fancy tricks if necessary. On the RP side, I like to think of the Duelist's low Resolve as more of a "better part of valor" philosophy than anything else (after all, why take the hits when that's Eder's job?), which is also reflected in Gipon Prudensco as his armor of choice. And yes, for a build that's not focused on DPS, the Duelist can actually put out some big numbers on a regular basis with the single Rapier, especially when the target has lowered Deflection from Confounding Blind. Deathblows and Devastating Blow lets him gib his enemies into bloody chunks at a disturbingly high rate.

No, you do need to dump Principi rep to get Gipon Prudensco. Dumping VTC rep gets you the ship that gives you the Wicked Beast pike. That said, I didn't really bother with that nonsense, and used the Vindictive Faction Ship mod instead.

The Cunning Duelist is the most "pirate" build I've come up with so far, albeit it's more of the 'debonair swashbuckler' type. Fits a background as a former Principi songsmith, isn't exactly designed for maximum DPS, but is interesting in the sense that he has no lack of options for hamstringing his opponents, with a variety of means to inflict Afflictions.

While we're at it, does the Fate Testarossa qualify for the Popular tag now?

Thanks. Yeah, I noticed the conversation about that in the Fate thread. I obtained Deltro's Cage through this method for both Fate and Tawhirimatea prior to the v2.0 update, so I never encountered this one. Probably a bug of some sort, perhaps it's worth making a topic about it in the Technical section? Oh rats! I really like her builds because she provides AI guide. It's still great build; just a huge chunk of it is useless in the winter wonderland of frost immune baddies. The one here adds lightning to the water/frost so you can still use him in the DLC. On top of that, many of the enemies in the Beast of Winter DLC have weaknesses to Burn. Tekehu is actually able to capitalize on that with Boiling Spray, which has the Water keyword (and thus boostable with Watershaper's Focus), but does Burn damage instead of Frost like most of his other automatically-learned spells. IIRC, ...And Evil Turned Away From The Sun also does a bit of Burn damage as well. That said, it's not really a lot to go on. It may be worth pumping Arcana on Tekehu, and expanding his repertoire with Burn damage scrolls.

The food vendor at Radiant Court in Dunnage always has a good supply of Luminous Lobster on hand. As for oysters, I've recently found that the best source for those was the fish vendor at Harbinger's Watch.

That is, unfortunately, true. I will add it to the list of cons. Thanks. It is true that Tekehu suffers from a long recovery time because of the heavy armor, and thus it can take him a while to ramp up in a fight. Much the same could be said of Fate, but at least she had Swift Strikes to mitigate the worst of it. For Tekehu, the best I could do was to set him up with Lord Darryn's Voulge or Watershaper's Focus, command the next spell to be cast, and then leave him alone to focus on the rest of the party while he's getting around to the task. What I usually do is, I get the Bardatto-Valera quest line done and over with before I make my way to Kahanga Palace for the first time. It's not like Pallegina (or anyone else, for that matter) ever seems to ask about their well-being. Thanks! Have fun with the God of Storms!

Hey Boeroer, I've got a new one for you! Tāwhirimātea, the God of Storms Subclasses: Watershaper/Stormspeaker Shock, Freeze, and Heal in a single package Author: Ascaloth Game version: 2.0 Difficulty: PotD Solo: No Companion: Tekehu Also, if you can update my Harbinger build accordingly, it'll be great! The Cunning Duelist Subclasses: Skald/Trickster A hamstringing specialist capable of inflicting all types of Afflictions Author: Ascaloth Game version: 2.0 Difficulty: PotD Solo: Untested Companion: -

v2.0 Change Log General Changed first image to reflect change in armor Updated Difficulty from "Veteran v1.02" to "PotD v2.0.0.0030" Updated Important Skills to Mechanics and Streetwise Abilities PL1: Added Backstab, removed The Thunder Rolled Like Waves on Black Seas PL2: Added Mirrored Images, Blinding Strike, removed Thick Grew Their Tongues, Stumblin' O'er Their Words PL3: Added Ryngrim's Repulsive Visage, Confounding Blind, removed Riposte PL4: Added Llengrath's Displaced Image, Shadowing Beyond, removed Shadow Step PL5: Added Devastating Blow, removed Eliminating Blow PL6: Added Arkemyr's Wondrous Torment, So Singt Thy Biting Winds o'Eld Nary, removed Its Crash Could Not Be Denied Items Kapana Taga: Removed enchantment Unblockable, added enchantment Champion's Relic Armor: Removed Miscreant's Leather, added Gipon Prudensco Trinket: Added Betrayal Cloak: Removed Cloak of Greater Protection, added Ajamuut's Stalking Cloak Gloves: Removed Boltcatchers, added Gatecrashers Ring: Removed Entonia Signet Ring, added Ring of Prosperity's Fortune Belt: Removed Ngati's Girdle, added Upright Captain's Belt Pet: Added Frau Nils Boots: (10/8/2018) Removed Rakhan Field Boots, added Slippers of the Assassin

Source In Māori mythology, Tāwhirimātea (or Tāwhiri) is the god of weather, including thunder and lightning, wind, clouds and storms. He is a son of Papatūānuku (earth mother) and Ranginui (sky father). In his anger at his brothers for separating their parents, Tāwhirimātea destroyed the forests of Tāne (god of forests), drove Tangaroa (god of the sea) and his progeny into the sea, pursued Rongo and Haumia-tiketike till they had to take refuge in the bosom of their mother Papa, and only found in Tūmatauenga a worthy opponent and eternal enemy. - Wikipedia =================================== Tāwhirimātea, the God of Storms =================================== Difficulty: PotD v2.0.0.0030 -------------------------------------------------------------- Class: Theurge (Watershaper + Stormspeaker) -------------------------------------------------------------- Race: Marine Godlike -------------------------------------------------------------- Background: Deadfire Archipelago (Artist) -------------------------------------------------------------- Stats (char creation, no Berath's Blessings): MIG: 12 CON: 13 DEX: 11 PER: 14 INT: 13 RES: 15 -------------------------------------------------------------- Important Skills: none -------------------------------------------------------------- Abilities (a=auto, r=recommended, !=important) PL1 Druid Ondra's Whip (a) Tanglefoot (a) Nature's Mark Chanter The Skies Opened And Vengeance Rained Down (a) Blessed was Wengridh, Quickest of His Tribe (a) Not Felled by the Axe, Nor Broken by the Storm (a) The Thunder Rolled Like Waves on Black Seas PL2 Druid Blizzard (a) The Moon's Light (!) Woodskin Chanter The Cave Provided Shelter Through the Storm (a) At the Sound of his Voice, the Killers Froze Stiff ® Common Two Handed Style ® PL3 Druid Chill Fog (a) (!) Returning Storm (!) Chanter Great Amira Let Her Wrath Be Shown (a) (!) The Fox from the Farmer Did Run and Leap Ancient Memory (!) Rejoice, my Comrades! Two Fingers of Daylight (!) PL4 Druid Boiling Spray (a) Moonwell (!) Secrets of Rime (!) Heart of the Storm (!) Chanter Ngati's Power Struck the Shore Again (a) Rise Again, Rise Again, Scions of Adon! (!) PL5 Druid Ocean Burst (a) Relentless Storm (!) Practiced Healer (!) Chanter A Cool Wind Washed Over The Tribe (a) ...And Evil Turned Away from the Sun (!) Seven Nights She Waited While The White Winds Wept (!) PL6 Druid Watery Double (a) Garden of Life Chanter Not One Foe Was Spared Amira's Wrath (a) (!) ...And Face Your Foes ® They Shielded Their Eyes 'Gainst the Fampyr's Gaze ® So Singt Biting Winds o'Eld Nary (!) PL7 Druid Blast of Frost (a) Nature's Bounty Chanter Within Ngati's Embrace None Could Touch Her (a) Mercy and Kindness Followed Where'er She Walked (!) Her Tears Fell Like Rain (!) --------------------------------------------------------------- Items (*=additional enchantments; !=important, r=recommended): Weapon set 1: Lord Darryn's Voulge (!) Weapon set 2: Watershaper's Focus (Ondra's Wrath*!) (!) Chest: Deltro's Cage (Conductive Storm*!) (!) Helmet: n/a Amulet: Necklace of the Harvest Moon ® Trinket: Kaihoa Cloak: Mantle of the Seven Bolts (!) Gloves: Woedica's Strangling Grasp ® Ring: Kuaru's Prize ® Ring: Ring of Boundless Stars ® Belt: Ngati's Girdle Boots: Boots of the White ----------------------------------------------------------------- Tekēhu is very clearly the apple of the Obsidian developers' eyes, for much effort must have been put into making him capable of many things his fellow Companions (or even any custom hirelings, for that matter) cannot match. As a Watershaper, Tekēhu gains access to Foe-only AoE Frost spells; as a Stormspeaker, he gets automatically-learned Invocations unique to his subclass, of which two are powerful Shock-based spells. Taking a fair bit of inspiration from my Fate Testarossa Ascetic build, I took the staple of that build - Lord Darryn's Voulge, Deltro's Cage and Mantle of the Seven Bolts - and complemented it with the Watershaper's Focus to capitalize fully on the synergies he enjoys as a Theurge like no other in the Deadfire. The end result: Tekēhu, with the Tāwhirimātea build, is capable of handling the entire party's spellcasting requirements single-handedly. Offensive Spellcasting Tāwhirimātea then sent forth a variety of clouds, including Aonui (dense clouds), Aopōuri (dark clouds), Aowhētuma (fiery clouds), Aowhēkere (clouds which precede hurricanes), Aokanapanapa (clouds reflecting glowing red light), Aopakakina (clouds wildly drifting from all quarters and wildly bursting), Aopakarea (clouds of thunderstorms), and Aotakawe (clouds hurriedly flying). - Te Ara: The Encyclopedia of New Zealand Much like the Fate Testarossa, Tekehu can make use of the +5 Shock PL from Lord Darryn's Voulge and Deltro's Cage to power his Shock spells like Returning Storm and Relentless Storm, along with the Ball Lightning spell he gets from the fully-upgraded Voulge. That said, since he isn't really able to reach the 35 Might cap, Tekehu can't quite put out the same damage numbers that Fate is capable of. Still useful to be sure, but the gap can be noticeable. That said, Tekehu has a couple of advantages over the Fate build; Firstly, the true extent of the Shock synergy between Tekehu's two subclasses comes in the unique Invocations Great Amira Let Her Wrath be Shown and Not One Foe Was Spared Amira's Wrath; these behave like the Wizard spells Crackling Bolt and Chain Lightning respectively. Not only do both Invocations also benefit from the Shock PL bonus, and not only are both ideal choices for opening fights - especially in the latter case - as Invocations, they can be casted again late in the fight, once Tekehu has built up enough Phrases. So while Tekehu can't bring down the thunder to quite the same extent that Fate can, he makes up for it by being able to do so practically indefinitely. Secondly, should Tekehu face something that's immune to Shock, he still has Freeze synergy to fall back on; As a Watershaper, Tekehu automatically learns Foe-only AoE Frost spells such as Chill Fog, Blizzard and Blast of Frost. He can even complement that with the Invocation So Singt Biting Winds o'Eld Nary, which behaves much like a Frost version of Chain Lightning. And this is where the Watershaper's Focus comes in; the Ondra's Wrath enchantment makes it offer +2 PL to all Frost spells, including his Chanter Invocations, for which the aforementioned Eld Nary isn't the only Frost Invocation that Tekehu has by far. But we'll get into that later. To be sure, the +2 Frost PL offered by Watershaper's Focus isn't quite as much as the +5 Shock PL possible with the Voulge + Cage combo. But it's still better than anything else currently available in the game, even with the new items introduced by the Beast of Winter DLC. Healing Sometimes Tāwhirimātea is content to listen to advice from his parents and forgive his siblings. On those days the weather is fine, clear and calm. - New Zealand Ministry of Education Ondra's Wrath on the Watershaper's Focus also offers +2 Water PL, which is most useful on the Water-keyworded healing spells The Moon's Light and Moonwell. Thus, Tekehu can also double as the party's primary healer, even while he's dishing out the arcane hurt at the same time. To bolster his healing credentials, Tekehu can take the Ancient Memory Chant for additional passive healing, and become an even more powerful healer in the late game with Mercy and Kindness Followed Where'er She Walked. He also make use of Rejoice, my Comrades! Two Fingers of Daylight!, using Phrases for a spot of much-needed burst healing. With the ...And Evil Turned Away From The Sun upgrade, he can even deal Burn damage to Vessels much like Priests do with Holy Radiance. To top it off, Tekehu can even take a rezz option with Rise Again, Rise Again, Scions of Adon!, letting him get fallen party members back on their feet. Nuking To take revenge on his brothers, Tāwhirimātea first attacked Tāne Mahuta – the god of the forest, who had separated Rangi and Papa. The mighty trees of Tāne’s domain were snapped in the middle and fell to the ground. Then Tāwhirimātea attacked Tangaroa, the god of the sea, causing the waves to grow as tall as mountains. After this he turned on Rongomātāne, whose domain was cultivated food and the kūmara (sweet potato), and Haumia-tikitiki, god of fern root and uncultivated food. To escape, they hid within their mother Papatūānuku - Te Ara: The Encyclopedia of New Zealand Last but not least, Tekehu can indeed pull out all the stops and nuke his enemies with Storm of Seven Bolts - although, once again, it's not quite to the same level as Fate can manage. To be fair, it can still add up to a fair bit of damage, but since he cannot summon the same level of raw power that Fate can, there can be occasions where the Shock nuke fizzles out as a bit of a squib; That said, this is where Tekehu's edge in flexibility pays off once again; he has an alternative Frost-based nuke, in the form of Seven Nights She Waited While the White Winds Wept; With the Watershaper's Focus backing him up, Tekehu can land some huge Frost damage numbers on enemies who would otherwise shrug off his Shock attacks. Even in his most powerful attacks, Tekehu can make up in flexibility wherever he might lack in raw power, with all of the tools at his disposal. Final Thoughts Pros: Takes advantage of +5 Shock PL with both Storm spells, Storm of Seven Bolts, Ball Lightning, and Stormspeaker-exclusive Shock Invocations Takes advantage of +2 Frost PL with Watershaper-exclusive Foe-only AoE Frost spells and Frost Invocations Takes advantage of +2 Water PL with The Moon's Light and Moonwell, and complements it with Chanter's healing Phrases and Invocations A well-rounded spellcaster, able to dole out damage to enemies and heal allies. As the only playable Watershaper, and the only playable Stormspeaker in the entire game, the edge that Tekehu enjoys with the Tāwhirimātea build cannot be matched by any Companions, hirelings, or even the Watcher him/herself. Cons: With only 12 Might, Tekehu can't quite put as much raw power to either blasting or healing as a Might-maxed Watcher or hireling can. Because it uses most of the same equipment, Tāwhirimātea cannot be used in the same party as a Fate Testarossa, for better or worse. High Recovery time due to the use of heavy armor, with no real means of mitigating the effect. For some reason, Tekehu has a dad bod when in heavy armor. I guess that's what comes of easy living as a Mataru of the Kahanga.

Where exactly is Frostfall to be found? EDIT: Nvm, figured it out. It's in the Shattered Passage, but you need all three quest Trinkets to obtain it. Kaihoa to change the flow of water blocking the path to the top left gate, Betrayal to fool the Kuaru spirit into letting you pass, enter the gate to transport yourself to an isolated part of the map, Waidwen's Sundial to create a path (enemies will show up at this point), and finally Betrayal again to fool the Glamfellen spirit into giving up the weapon.

I did update Fate for v1.2, she still worked perfectly well at the time, even if it wasn't as ridiculous as her first iteration. I didn't see very much in the v2.0 changes that affected this build, if at all. So, I'm planning to take Fate through the newly-released Beast of Winter DLC (immediately after I've done the same for The Cunning Duelist, for that matter), and then I'll update this build as v2.0 compatible.

Well, while we're exploiting thundercleese as a gofer for mechanics testing... So it's established that the scepter modal and Berserker Frenzy doesn't cancel Dance of Death; how about self damage from equipment? Specifically, I'm thinking stuff like Furrante's Breastplate, Voidwheel and Wicked Beast. Currently theorycrafting the Berserker/Nalpazca build I said I would do, and I'm leaning towards something that's super-tanky for the first seconds of an encounter, just long enough for Enduring Dance to be worth the investment even if it gets canceled later in the fight.

I can test it for you if you want, Boeroer. I've been knocking around build ideas for an RDC run anyway, and this sounds like a pretty fitting concept for a Watcher who was dishonorably discharged from the Ruquapa for his drug habits.

You know, this sounds awfully familiar.

I'd like to tell you that I have a reliable way of actually attracting Engagement with this build, but... sorry. Best thing I can think of is to put Pallegina front and center of the party, starting each encounter in Thunder mode with blunderbusses out. If you give the rest of the party decent Deflection rates, the fact that a Tuono e Fulmine Pallegina doesn't actually have high Deflection or AR outside of Disengagement should make enemies beeline for her. This is because this build is designed with provoking Disengagement attacks in mind, as opposed to attracting Engagement in the first place. That said, a Tuono e Fulmine Pallegina who's being ignored by the enemies just gives her breathing space to do a wide range of other things; Killers Froze Stiff, Glorious Beacon, switching back to Thunder for another Eternal Devotion Full Attack, so on and so forth.

A master of PoE power builds has returned, and he does not disappoint.