Boeroer

What makes builds fun for me? they are powerful/impactful (enough) - there's no fun if your character feels like a millstone around the party’s neck they don’t need late game gear to function - although getting late game gear to improve them can be a motivation. But having to wait forever in order to make your character click for the last hour of the game can be frustrating you don’t have to wait for late game abilities for them to be fun to play ad impactful (same as above) - although having the goal of reaching a great high lvl ability can add to the fun and motivation. Even at lvl 20 (if you have DLCs installed) there's still a good amount of game left to enjoy the highest lvl abilities they don’t need a lot of repetitive setups in every fight - that's not as much of a problem if that’s easy to script though (although I personally don't like to use the AI with my MC) but for example: if you need to manually switch several grimoires at the beginnig of the fight the fun will not last and you will stop doing that quickly. If your character's performance relies on that switching you most likely won't feel okay with this character No overpowered 1-trick ponies (at least not too early in the game). It’s okay if that happens in the late game, but it ruins the playthrough if you can win every fight with the same trick and the same character - while the rest of the party is only there to watch (looking at you, Grave-Calling Berserker/Beckoner) Good reactivity - it gets frustrating if the character plays like a slowpoke but would profit a lot from being more reactive. This can also mean using a reloading weapon is better than using a recovery weapon (reloading can be stopped for other actions, recovery cannot) fits the party - best if it fits a lot of party compositions and doesn't need a party build around it. But sometimes that can be fun, too. Anyway: it's no fun to use a build which mechanics don't blend into the others' not too much micromanagement - but also not too little. For companions low micro can be great - for my MC I like to (reasonably) micromanage and use active abilites manually. this leads to plenty (or even unlimited) resources. I personally like it if resources can be refilled somehow or costs can get refunded. Can also mean the resources are fixed but there are great abilities that aren't too expensive general versatility - being good at/useful for more than one single thing craftiness/creativity of the build (something to be proud of when a build idea does indeed work) out-of the ordinary/original (there's not much exitement when taking a well-trodden path) good character story (at least in my head) so it’s not a blank slate. An emotional connection does help a lot. And no - the silly stuff I write at the top of my build posts are not the stories I use. thematically coherent and somewhat believable stylish/cool/badass good/entertaining sound effects (surprisingly important!) good vfx (without crashing the game or destroying the performance)

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!

I don't know. But at some point, after stacking many -% recovery/reloading time bonuses, there was no noticable difference anymore - and when I switched on the modal (+50% reloading time) the reloading time went up less than it should have. So I assumed I must have hit the cap before. Edit: or maybe it was with a somewhat similar party setup but on a Streetfighter/Arc.Ar. and a Troubadour as party member where I had that experience. I tested a lot of arbalest+modal characters that day and finally settled on AA/Troubadour. But yes: I guess unless you use DW pistols you won't "accidentally" hit the cap.

That limit is annoying (also prevents the Blaster's enchantment that skips reloading from working). What I do when I hit that limit: I put on thicker armor to deter ranged enemies from targeting that character or do something else which would otherwise slow me down but is benefical. Like using Harley instead of Cutthroat Cosmo or something like that. I hit it with a Arcane Archer/Troubadour with Spearcaster because I was combining so many reloading buffs (Sure-Handed-Ila which applies twice, Gunner, Tricorn, Maia's Armor+Abraham and so on). I then decided to just leave the modal on at all times (+50% reloading time) and of course this was a bit slower but still fast enough. The upside (interrupt+prone on hit) though was so incredibly useful that it's totally worth the slightly less fast reloading. So thanks for the reloading limit I guess.

That was fixed with a patch. I haven't had that problem in years.

That's right. Wizard's Double doesn't get removed by grazes, but hits (and crits) from any attack roll (even ones that don't target deflection) will remove it.

Frostseeker. It's both good against single enemies and mobs alike and its AoE generates focus. Use Borrowed Instinct (more crits), Time Parasite and pick the Shared Nightmare passive. Frostseeker's AoE on crit will grow with Shared Nightmare, so Shared Nightmares makes the AoE bigger with more focus - which generates more focus because you reach more enemies - which makes the AoE bigger... and so on. Serafen's mortars are good against mobs as well and will profit from Shared Nightmare, but less good against single enemies. Kitchen Stove is very good because of Tunderous Report (high dmg AoE cone 1/encounter). It generates a ton of focus if used against numerous foes and is great to fill your focus up asap 1/encounter. After that it's just a regular blunderbuss though with its rel. low PEN pierce-only damage. Waterhaper's Focus (enchanted with Ondra' Wrath) is very good against mobs - but really bad against single enemies. Hunting Bow + modal is a good option. Essence Interrupter and Aamiina's Legacy are both great. Only useable against single targets though. That's why all in all I'd pick Frostseeker.

Animal Companions don't disturb your stealth and even if you put zero points into the Animal Companion abilities you still can have an additional body + summons in the field - while you cannot have AC and chanter summons at the same time as a Ghost Heart/Chanter (except when using Many Lives or a replacement summon such as Ancient Brittle Bones). The biggest drawback for me would be that I would not be able to use Stalker's Link against bosses if I also wanted to use summons. Good point about items that require you to be truly alone - but most summons will cancel those beneficial effects, too, wouldn't they? 🤔 The rest of the points: fair enough. There's no argument when it comes to taste and what you enjoy (or don't enjoy).

I don't understand that choice either - also because with any Ranger/Chanter combo you can revive the animal companion potentially unlimited times (they don't get injured on knockout).

I played an Assassin/Bleak Walker pretty soon after the game came out. The value of big arquebus crits with Assassinate+Flames of Devotion is fairly limited after the early game. Enemies' health pools just become too big. Only if you can become invisible lots of times during an encounter an arquebus with Assassinate makes sense. So I combined Assassin with Priest of Skaen for more invisibility uses per encounter (that was before Arkemyr's Brilliant Departure). If I wanted to maximize invisibility uses for an Assassin I would pair it with a Bloodmage I guess who can cast Brilliant Departure lots of times and also has the benefit of an Essential Phantom which also can make good use of an arquebus setup.

Yes, scripting the switching at the start of battle (or with another initial trigger for that behavior) would be doable.

Uh... for some reason I got it backwards in my trail of thought. 🫣

Dps-wise and speaking about "self-contained builds" I guess there's not much that comes close to the described Streetfighter/Troubadour with wisps, but it doesn't have great accuracy. So I'd say Ranger/Troubadour with Marked for the Hunt, Marksman, Driving Flight, Gunner and so on and Sure-Handed Ila + Aefyllath Ues Mith Fyr, using the Red Hand. Great reloading speed, great accuracy, good versatility (due to invocations, esp. summons), good dmg per shot (burning lash at all times). But it's true that you only need a chanter in the party for that. If there is one then including the rogue class is great. For example: If you don't enchant the Red Hand with Double Tap but the Knockdown effect instead, a Rogue/Ranger can be very good - if Arterial Strike is used a lot. I mean it's great anyway bc. of all the dmg bonuses paired with high ACC. But I mean it's even better imo if you can knock enemies away from allies with Arterial Strike and they will suffer greatly if they want to re-engage (they usually want that). With Driving Flights it's two enemies with one shot who will hobble around, bleeding out. It's very useful and does a lot of damage per shot, too. It's not as fast with reloading but good enough imo. You lose the double tap against vessels but I think it's worth it in this case. If you have a chanter in the party you can still use the wisp trick and pick a streetfighter for the rogue/ranger. For a solo arquebus user I think not much comes close to @Kaylon's Assassin/Tactician. It's posted here as a build somewhere with the mechanics explained. Mechanically I'm not a big fan of the Devoted with an arquebus because he's at a disadvantage when he meets pierce resistant or immune enemies - or ones with an Arcane Veil (which are pretty frequent, esp. among the vessel and spirit categories). Black Jacket is okay. I personally don't see a huge advantage when using 0-recovery weapon-set switching though because of the Red Hand arquebus. You buy up to 3 quick extra shots with increased micromanagement - I mean on paper it's worth it, but I find that one stops to care after a few encounters because the switching gets annoying. Especially when the fights last longer and longer it's not worth my time. Conquerer Stance is very nice though. And with the Community Patch Weapon Mastery is nice, too. Thematically a Sharpshooter/Devoted would make a lot of sense - and as long as you don't meet too many pierce immune foes (or just make your character sturdy enough to be able to punch those with Monastic Unarmed Training) it would also perform well. +3 PEN at closer range is pretty good - +6 when using Penetrating Strike: a lot of overpenetration I guess?

Enemies like boars, panthers etc. do use weapons (tusks, claws, antlers...), same as a spiritshifted Druid or a Transmuter (Form of the Fearsome Brute) uses them. They have no 3D model and thus are invisible, but they are game objects that have instances and values and so on. So as long as such enemies are not using ranged attacks or spells/spell-like abilities the dagger modal will work.

Blood Ward drawing health from scroll dmg maybe?

I didn't use a lot of scrolls in Deadfire so I don't know a lot about their workings by heart tbh. But first of all: including at least one class that gets the highest Arcana bonus might be good? The Wizard gets +2 from the start and with Chamaeleon's Touch it's +3. But if Shared Nightmares works with scrolls I'd also say a SC Cipher (for me it would be a Psion) should be great. Also Time Parasite and Reaping Knives might be awesome with scrolls. I mean those synergies won't click until the latest char levels - but you'll have a great caster character right away. The Barb's appeal is stuff like Frenzy (Blood Frenzy's DoT on crit?), Bloodlust, Blood Thirst (and maybe even the +25% dmg from Blooded), right? Furyshaper to get even higher scroll speed with the Frenzy Ward and later health drain with the Blood Ward? How about a Druid with Cat form? Should be able to cast scrolls very quickly, too. Advantage would be that it wouldn't require any lengthy setup. Just shift and activate cat flurry which is both instant casts without recovery. Can Shifters cast scrolls while shifted? I never tried... Does the PL bonus of Ancients (for beast spells) or Furies (for elements spells) work with fitting scrolls (do the scrolls like Avenging Storm for example carry the "elements" keyword?). Paladins' Eternal Devotion adds its burning lash to spells etc., I suspect it also adds it to damaging scrolls (never tried)? If so this would be very good. Should the lash from Blightheart, soulbound to a Wizard, also add to scrolls and not only Wizard spells I think a Paladin/Wizard would be excellent: high Arcana bonus, double lash on scroll dmg... cannot test bc. I am on vacation in Latvia. Do the elemental PEN abilities (Scion of Flame etc.) work with scrolls? If so all classes who have access to these abilities might be worth considering. Are there scrolls that do piece, crush or slash dmg? Because that might trigger Deep Wounds of the Rogue maybe? Speaking of Rogue: what about the Debonaire's 100% crit conversion against charmed enemies? Does it apply to scrolls? That would be great. Debonaire/Beguiler or -Psion or Debonaire/Chanter could mass-charm and then drop a friendly fire scroll that mostly would crit I guess? Does the Assassin get anything out of scrolls when he casts them from visibility/stealth? Lots of questions and little answers from me, sorry. 😉

Exploiting Combusting Wounds either takes a lot of time (if done by one character) or a specialized party (which then becomes a one-trick troupe - which is very boring to play). Even though I knew about its potential I rarely use it - because if you invest the time you need to set it up most efficiently into different nice actions, you can have similarly good, yet more entertaining outcomes imo. Where I use it regularly is in Beast of Winter, esp. against Neriscyrlas because that's where I get the feeling that the outcome actually warrants all the hassle with multi hit actions such as walls and beams etc. By the time I get CW to tick for considerable bonus damage that I would deem balance-breaking, the enemy is already beaten by other means. And I'd rather make sure the enemies are constantly debuffed and disabled and can be disposed off safely than trying to set up massive damage ticks with CW. Like... I can disable any enemy in the game except two or three mega bosses from start of the encounter to finish with just one arbalest + modal. That's kind of game breaking, especially when it's about power curves imo. Just needs a Ranger and a Chanter in the party and works without any setup during the fight. Where CW is really great and easy to exploit without bending the party around it is when you have a lot of pulsing or multihit spells anyway - like if you have a Chanter with Her Revenge + a Druid with Venombloom, Wicked Briars and so on + a Wizard with Chillfog and Walls and maybe a blunderbuss dude or so. Then it really starts to feel like you are nerfing yourself if you don't use CW.

The part of "forces the damage to resolve each time a stack is added" is similar to other self-stacking DoTs like Bleeding Cuts or Saru Sichr's enchantment "Poison Dipped". That's what makes them much more powerful than one would think just from reading the description. If you can achieve a lot of hits in a short amount of time (like with Swift Flurry or Barbaric Retaliation or such things) this becomes more obvious.

It's not a comprehensive test, just one little setup to get an idea. Eccea's Arcane Blaster's performance in this case might be a little worse because the dummies have very low defenses, so crits are common. Also the AR is low. The Blaster doesn't do overpenetration (happens a lot with crits against dummies) so that might explain a good portion of it. I think against "proper" enemies the results would be different. The base rolls for Imbued Ammunition were more like 12-18. But the raw dm is pretty low. And it was very good with Twinned Shot - compared to the Red Hand (which I also tried with Twinned Shot). It then killed the enemies faster than the Red Hand and used less Bond resource for the kill. I guess because Fracured Bullet got triggered way more (which also get Imbued Ammunition for each fracture). Spearcaster was with 20 Arcana - so it had very high ACC. I also chose the enchantment for the multi-lash which helps, too. I had to put the enemy in front of a building though to prevent it from getting pushed back. When this happens it will cost you dps at some point because the enemy will get pushed out of range and you have to follow before you can shoot. Thundercrack has a good lash and it also paralyzes on crit (which leads to even more crits bc. of the added 25% crit conversion). crits that lead to overpenetration + multiplicative lash dmg bonus is a nasty combo. I guess that explains its good dmg performance in this case - also compared to Scordeo's Trophy that has more speed and higher crit dmg - but no lash (and less crit chance). Hunting Bows are indeed very good in this setup - but overall I think Frostseeker has the overall best outcompe here: great against single dummies, great against groups - just overall great. And it also needs very little enchantment ressources: the unique enchantmant isn't really necessary. You only need to bring up the quality and that's it.

With Wizard you could maybe use Binding Web and a Resistance to DEX afflictions so that you only get hobbled?

Just for y'all's info I did a few test shootings with some of the weapons for a quick in-game comparison. I shot at a cre_dummy in fast combat with auto-attacks (disadvantage for the Blaster bc of lacking PL bonuses?). For some weapons that rely on on-hit/crit effects and/or AoE I added some more dummies right behind the actual target. SC Ranger at lvl 20 with Marked Prey, Marksman, Gunner, Driving Flight, Prestige and Evasive Roll (for +5 DEX which increases recovery/reload) + Harley and Ring of the Marksman. All weapons legendary and with the supposedly best dps enchantments. The seconds are the time it took to take the initial target down. I averaged three tries each, so it's not very accurate but will still give some hints. The Red Hand: ~10 sec Eccea's Arcane Blaster (One Handed Style + modal + Imbued Ammunition): ~15 secs St. Omaku's Mercy: ~20 secs St. Omaku's Mercy (second dummy behind the target): ~11 secs Essence Interrupter (modal, Metaphysics 20): ~8 secs Aamiina's Legacy (): ~8 secs Scordeo's Trophy (modal) : ~14 secs Scordeo's Trophy (modal, second dummy behind the target) : ~12 secs Thundercrack (modal): ~13 secs Frostseeker: ~9 secs Frostseeker (second dummy behind the target): ~7 secs Frostseeker (third dummy behind the target): ~6 secs Frostseeker (four dummies behind the target): ~6 secs Dragon's Dowry: ~13 secs Watershaper's Focus: ~30 secs 😄 Watershaper's Focus (second dummy behind the target): ~22 secs Waterhaper's Focus (third dummy behind the target): ~20 secs Watershaper's Focus (four dummies behind the target, Blast modal) : ~6 secs Current's Rush: ~20 secs Current's Rush (second dummy behind the target): ~10 secs Current's Rush (third dummy behind the target): ~8 secs Current's Rush (four dummies behind the target): ~6 secs Spearcaster (Arcana 20): ~13 secs Fire in the Hole (modal): ~16 secs Fire in the Hole (modal, second dummy behind the target) : ~8 secs Fire in the Hole (modal, third dummy behind the target): ~6 secs Fire in the Hole (modal, four dummies behind the target): ~6 secs Xefa's Empirical Explication (modal): ~13 secs Kitchen Stove (modal, Frantic Relaod): ~9 secs Kitchen Stove (modal, Everything and Anything) : ~11 secs I guess I could push the reloading weapons a little bit more with something like Acina's Tricorn and Sure-Handed Ila and stuff but I wanted to keep it simple.

You could try the following straightforward "easy" builds that don't require a lot of actions once the combat starts (but can add more stuff if needed): Kind Wayfarer/Helwalker: dual wielding or weapon (includes fists but also other weapons) + bashing shield (spec. Tuotilo's Palm). Eternal Devotion, Turning Wheel, Lightning Strikes, Torment's Reach etc. Your Flames of Devotion not only heal you but also the party members (INT bonus from Turning Wheel gives you a very big AoE size, Helwalker's MIG bonus makes your healing more powerful) around you, you can get very high armor and defenses (see Paladin's passives and Helwalker's MIG bonus that raises fortitude, Crucible of Suffering gets triggered by Sacred Immolation's self damage wearing off and so on) - it's easy to play, has good damage output against single targets as well as in an AoE, is sturdy, can do terrific support with healing and other stuff. Goldpact Knight/Shifter Druid: pick all the armor passives of the Paladin and Sworn Rival, Wildstrike stuff from the Druid side (whatever element you like), Eternal Devotion etc. Sworn Rival + the Goldpacts special ability "Gilded Enmity" also works when shifted. When you shift into the Bear form + Gilded Enmity you will have very high AR while having null recovery penalty. You can dish out nice melee damage while being very durable (also Lay on Hands works while shifted). You can shift multiple times, so when your Bear Form wears off you can shift into a Boar and so on. The AR will be a bit less than with the Bear but still impressively high. Complement with Blunting Belt and so on. It works right off the bat with shifting, no spellcasting needed. However in tough encounters you can cast powerful (AoE) spells before/between shifts. You can also use Sacred Immolation while shifted and combine it with Nature's Terror for example (cast Nature's Terror, shift, cast Sacred Immolation, go to town... very good AoE damage with just one spellcast and two quick ability activations). Devoted/Streetfighter: large shield (like Bronlar's Phalanx), Gladiator's Sword (+1 PEN enchantment, +2 PEN from Devoted), deflection gear. Not really AoE, but capable of being the main tank while dishing out great melee damage at the same time. Not pure damage sponge but a great hybrid of good defense and good offense. Required almost no micromanagement after some levels. You'll have very high PEN for slash and pierce damage (sword) - should you need crush damage you can use your fist + Monastic Unarmed Training with no drawback from the Devoted side. Furyshaper/Unbroken: maxed MIG (at least 20 with gear, 25 would be optimal), Battle Axe "Amra", enchantment Riven Gore. Use Bleeding Cuts (the battle axe modal) and Frenzy, your Carnage AoE and the Axe's AoE on crit (with 25+ MIG, Riven Gore) will stack. Great synergy between Riven Gore, Blood Thirst + Cleaving/Mob Stance. Devastating against mobs. if you pick Furyshaper Barb: Use a Fear Ward summon to terrify enemies who will then leave your engagement, triggering disengagement attacks form you. The Unbroken fighter has great bonuses on disengagement attacks. When things get tough switch to a 1h-Battle Axe + shield. The Unbroken will then grant you +1 AR and make you extra sturdy. Also good with other Barb/Fighter subclasses, for example vanilla Barb/Fighter. Then without fear/disengagment stuff. Mage Slayer/Skald: use the unique Morning Star Saru Sichr. It has two attack rolls instead of one (one more chance to crit which makes the Skald gain phrases). Use Spirit Frenzy (staggers with chants as well) and sing the phrase "The Long Night's Drink". Use the Morning Star's modal "Body Blows" which lowers enemies' fortitude by 25 points. Spirit Frenzy will latch onto you chant and both will lower enemies' fortitude (Spirit Frenzy by 10, Long Night's Drink by 14). This is a great debuffing character which needs almost no action besides triggering Frenzy. You can then attack with the Morning Star. The second hit roll from it is a poison DoT which targets fortitude. Once the enemies' fortitude is so much debuffed (25 from Body Blows + 24 from Spirit Frenzy+chant) the second hit roll of the Morning Star will crit a lot, giving you phrases quickly. Once yout get Brute Force all attacks will target fortitude if it's lower than deflection. Crits en masse. Also the double roll of the Morning Star applies the Mage Slayer's casting debuff twice. So you only need to hit a caster twice and he/she cannot cast spells anymore (100% debuff). Cast nasty offensive invocations when you wish. They are supercheap for a Skald and get refilled quickly with crits. Choose good disables such as "Killers Froze Stiff", nice debuff such as "Ben Fidel's Neck" or pure damage such as "Her Revenge Swept Across". Stalker (Bear Companion)/Darcozzi Paladini: use Blade of the Endless Paths (with "Marking"), Ring of Focused Flames + Flames of Devotion and also Accurate Wounding Shot, Greater Lay on Hands, Reviving Exhortation, Zealous Focus, Marked for the Hunt, Stalker's Link, Resilient Companion... The goal is to crit a single enemy often. This is easy with FoD + Ring (+20 accuracy, same with Accurate Wounding Shot) + Stalker's Link and Marked Prey and the aura - and the Blade's help which gains accuracy every few seconds, too. A crit will put a debuff on the enemy, lowering their deflection up to -20, collapsing their deflection and making it easy at some point for you and all party members to hit/crit them. At the same time you can be very sturdy (Paladin passives + Stalker passive) and your Bear, too. It gains +1AR form the Stalker passive, +2 from Resilient Companion, +2 from being a Bear and also +2 from your Greater Lay on Hands. If it goes down you can use Reviving Exhortation or the Ranger's revive. For ehaling you can use Lay on Hands or the Ranger's heal. The deflection debuff doesn't need any setup. You just put out Mared Prey and attack with Flames of Devotion/Accurate Wound Shot and drop the enemies' defelction into the ground on the fly. AoE can get added with Sacred Immolation later. There's a lot more builds that are sturdy yet have decent damage output and can start into combat without much preparation quickly and easily. There are just a few that came to my mind while I was typing.

Works: If you get critically hit by a fire attck and you wear the Ring Ibis, the resulting debuff will trigger CoS when it wears off. This even works if you use Rekvu's Scroched Cloak which turns fire damage into healing (when injured). So you can blast yourself with friendly fire² spells, catch a critical hit but get healed ibnstead of damaged in the process - you will also get the Ibis' hostile effect. When it wears off you trigger CoS. Without the cloak you could use the self-induced fire damage for wound generation I guess. But it's risky with most spells (like Fireball) or it's very hard to crit with the non-risky one (Wall of Flame). It's not that easy to crit yourself with fire spells reliably though. You can pile up some ACC while raising your defenses no too much maybe. Don't know if this is worth it, most likely not - because why would you focus so much attention towards CoS and then lower your defenses on purpose just to get it? But maybe on top of something else - as a little tiny CoS bonus chance - the ring could be okay.

Works: With enough RES and Clarity of Agony (and not too much INT) there's Berserker's Confusion when you use Frenzy (the Confusion is managed seperately from the speed and self damage aspects) and Sacred Immolation's self damage (not tied to the fire damage part). They will be fairly short then. Sacred Immolation + Clarity of Agony + Crucible of Suffering is a nice combo imo. Removes the hefty self damage, so your Sacred Immolation has no drawbacks AND gives you bonus defenses on top. If you combine with Effort's Hemorrhaging (see below) the Sacred Immolation can also trigger Hylea's Talons' DoT on yourself and the enemy. If you use Enlightened Agony (smart) you can cancel out the Confusion directly (because smart couters confusion) and trigger Crucible oS instantly. A Priest or Paladin could also give the smart inspiration and remove the Confusion right away, triggering CoS. --- Does not work: Any character can get flanked, but when the flanking ends CoS will not trigger. A Tactician gets confused when getting flanked. You will get flanked (1. effect) and confused (2. effect) and both end if you disengage. This also doesn't trigger Crusible of Suffering Edit: as one might expect also Cowardice from Debonaire doesn't trigger CoS (like running away from allies to trigger Cowardice and then move back to cancel it). --- Does not work: Deletrious Alacrity of Motion's self damage is tied to the benefical effect and is not a separate hostile effect. Doesn't trigger CoS at all. --- Works: When you use Confusion (from Berserker or Tactician) and don't want to raise RES like crazy and use Clarity of Agony you can use Footsteps of the Beast and step into your own hobbling traps (usually foe only - with confusion it also hits you while walking). The hobble effect is very short. But you have to make sure it wears off properly (so stop walking around for a few secs). If you keep stepping into your own frost traps then the duration of the effect will get refreshed all the time and the effect will not wear off = no CoS. It's an old trick for Forbidden Fist/Berserkers to gain a lot of wounds+healing on the fly and it also keeps up Crucible of Suffering ifyou do it right. It's becomes more difficult to hit yourself with the hobbling traps if your defense is superhigh (like in general and then on top with Crucible oS). But every now and then it should still graze you because the traps drop so frequently (with every step you take - as fast as Arterial Strike causes dmg when you move). It can work out in a way that you don't even have to stop moving because most traps will miss - and if a new one grazes, the effect of a previous trap might have already worn off. But of course you can always stop moving to make sure. --- Works: Hylea's Talon can be triggered with spells if you use the great sword Effort with the enchantment Hmorrhaging. If you land a crit with anything you will trigger Hemorrhaging which counts as melee attack - which can then trigger Hylea's Talons' DoT on the enemy or yourself. --- Does not work: The Thundercrack trick doesn't trigger Crucible of Suffering. The pistol doesn't put the nagative effect on the wearer anyway - so it needs to be carried by a party member. But even that doesn't work. You will get the effect - and if your buddies switches weapons the effect goes away... but nothing happens for the Monk. --- That's all that comes to mind atm. Maybe I will remember more later.

Iirc that pause (or its length) is not influenced by anything. I'm not 100% confident though.