Remix

The chanter build that I have had a lot of success with is actually a human character from old valia: 19 might 10 con 3 dex 17 per 19 int 10 res Max out deflection with talents and after a while you should be a decent offtank. Or, after a while, take points away from per and add them to resolve to make them tankier (similar to chillfog build). It would look like: 19 might 10 con Min dex 10 per 19 int 16 res You can up your con by using whispers of yen sword from caed nua (+2 con) and some +2 or +3 clothing for 14-15 con and you will do pretty well as a tank. The lack of perception will hurt a little for debuffs but your damaging chants and invocations should be fine. Plus gauntlets of accuracy and other items can mitigate that. You can also drop might and int a few points to add more to per if that bothers you or max out resolve if you're getting hit too often.

Synergizing the Chanter's summons with the cipher's beam spells is a great strategy if you do go with that pairing. I did this in one of the first party makeups I beat the game with. It worked amazingly.

I second the chanter druid combo. Both classes are versitile and well-rounded. Both can heal, disable, buff, debuff, summon and deal damage just with their inate abilities.

I feel like the level cap and the way things scale worked fine. I just really hope that they release a sequel, allow people to import characters from this one, and increase the level cap accordingly. If they did increase the level cap for a sequel and allow imported characters what seems like an appropriate level to cap everyone at?

To be fair I was the one who said that. Not the person arguing that barbs deal more dps. Personally, though, I try to cast the +5 invocations as an encounter is nearing its end. If the encounter does end I have a +5 to all stats for about enough time to rush my party into a second encounter with my barb and paladin at the head. I also don't use the same chanters in my party. One is a damage dealer with max might - the other is a disabling tank with min might. I'm sure I could still use dragon thrashed on the one with min might but I don't like to be too redundant if I use multiple characters with the same class.

Barb's carnage also has a damage penalty applied to the enemies hit by carnage if I'm not mistaken. Chanter chants do the same damage to everyone they hit (not including each individual foe's defenses and rolls).

It's different strengths, really. Chanters can hit more enemies with their huge AOE and avoid engagements while doing so. Barbs can repeatedly apply disables with each attack, though. That's why I am currently using both in my old valia all max intellegence party.

Although because I use chanters so often I tend to try and aggro as many enemies on the map into a single encounter as possible. It's a fun little self-challenge. So buffing my barb like this can basically turn him into an aggro tank that engages new groups of enemies like a total boss.

Is it? It's been a while since I've checked that specifically. Oh dragon-thrashed. Chanters are my preferred class as a main character for that chant. Haha. That and their ice blast invocation (seven knights?). It is probably my biggest go-to attack. Landing 3 or 4 of the "darts" on a boss is so satisfying.

Yeah. Prone or stun + carnage is a deadly combo. I have a barb paired with two chanters in my current party. As soon as I cast the chanters' stat boosting invocations on my barb simultaneously the +6 to all stats turns him into a monstrous death machine.

Healing bonuses are a huge must for any frontline barb. If you strategize correctly you can continuously draw from your health pool to the point where your endurance is almost a moot stat and your overall health effectively becomes your "endurance" in every encounter. This goes even further if you're able to equip a solid endurance draining weapon. It will synergize with carnage and allow you to heal a decent degree of health with every hit.

I've used barbarians quite a bit. The thing about them is unless you build them into a tank (put points into con over res) you'll be kinda squishy at first. The barb's health pool is so large, though, even at a base of 10 (as long as you have some means of healing) it will be a pretty effective investment over res. You don't have to min-max a barb, though. Not if you plan on using it as a frontliner at least. Initially, though, you're best bet is to use a pike and avoid being on the front line where possible. After level 4 or 5, though, you can switch to another weapon and operate on the front lines more. You'll have more endurance to make use of your gigantic health pool and after taking savage defiance you'll effectively have two rounds worth of max endurance by level 4 or 5. Also, pairing a barb with a chanter, priest or paladin allows you to offset the defensive deficiencies of a barbarian with their buffs. So, consider that. I usually use something along the lines of a build like this: Max might Base con Base dex Base per Max int Base res I always pick frenzy from the start and I'm playing on potd. Savage defiance is your bread and butter and get it asap (especially since it gives a defensive boost with a subsequent upgrade talent).

Any word on how the build is working?

Haha. That's probably what one would call a full party of chanters. Maybe I'll try and come up with a party of 6 unique chanters all built around different archetypes and post them.

Frenzy does still (kinda) work when using the +might+con+dex invocation. The +might+con part of the frenzy is suppressed but the 20% attack speed still applies, it seems. I just tested it.

Really, when you look at it, you can build a pretty effective party with minimal min-maxing just by playing two chanters that can utilize these invocations simultaneously. It's also a really great way to boost the story companions' base attributes.

I also don't want to say this is a necessary suggestion but if you're willing to (and it doesn't disrupt your play-style too much) you could probably afford to dump a couple points of resolve and use it somewhere else. Either Int, Dex or Might. Plenty of characters and classes have other buffs that can mitigate your lack of deflection (you said you might use Durance and Kana - both would allow you to focus more on offensive characteristics since their buffs can take care of any glaring defensive flaws). On a side note: Honestly, the more I think about it the more it seems like having a second chanter (kana, in your case) would only benefit you exponentially. Having the ability to buff all of your stats at once by synchronizing "The Bride Caught" and "The Brideman Slew" would not only allow you more flexibility with your base attributes but it would also probably be really fun to just absolutely annihilate everything you and your party touches.

Yeah. In my testing I only messed around with the character at level 16. I had enough time to frenzy and invocation-buff myself, melee for a bit, and then build up another set of chants to cast seven nights. With the int buff I was able to have a solid AOE, as well. If you're not playing on POtD you can probably get away with less con or detract a little bit from perception. You might suffer a bit in ranged combat and hitting enemies with your attack spells and debuffs but using "the bride" invocation probably offsets that enough, anyway. That seems to be the main plan with this build: attack, draw and kite, flank and chant while you're building up to cast frenzy and "the bride" buff. Then rush enemies and do some crazy AOE damage that isn't dangerous to your allies. There is one thing I should mention: if you take another chanter (Kana) you can also cast the +might+con+resolve invocation and turn your skald into a complete beast at the same time as you cast the +Per+dex+int invocation. This will make you and everyone caught in the path of these spells insanely effective at... well... everything. If you do that it might give you more wiggle room for the character's base stats. The only thing is... I think the +might+con+res invocation will (probably) cancel out frenzy. It's not really a big deal, though, as you can cast Frenzy at the start of battle and still buff your stats while you "wait" for your chants to build up. Plus, you can still use frenzy - strangely enough - to buff the damage on your ranged hits a little bit. That way the loss of deflection won't really hurt you since you're not actively engaging enemies.

Let me know how it works. There's still a lot of tweaks that can be applied, I'm sure.

I just did the skills something like survival at 12, lore and athletics at 6. I didn't really incorporate skills in the build as I just wanted to test if it works okay. You can do whatever you want, really. Although the survival healing bonus is probably very useful.

Kite enemies with Wengridh to build up a few chants. Switch to sure handed when you're not in melee and fire arrows. Cast Bride and Frenzy. Switch chants again if you want at this point (+25 fire damage or +10 deflection 3rd level chants both work well). Rush chanter in toward enemies. Have another caster buff defensive spells if necessary. Cast Seven Nights. Do a ton of damage. Summon Dragon to distract enemy every now and again. Nothing is set in stone with this build. I barely tested it. I don't know if you can do a ton of melee damage like this. If health regen is good enough, though, you can probably just switch to dual wielding axes. Maybe take Secrets of Rime and focus on a ton of freeze damage alongside using rimecutter.

List of Invocations Base Stats Buffed with bride caught and frenzy Inventory and useful items, appearance. Stats with equipped items. Talents. Nothing is set in stone here. You can probably adjust things as you figure out a playstyle that fits best with your party. Survival will probably be useful here. if you can get it to 12 you get the second-level healing bonus. stacked with all the regen and damage you're doing while tanking with okay DR and deflection you will likely need it in the same way the barbarian does.

The thing with chanters like this is that you want to be adaptable as encounters bring different situations. The dual hatchets will up your deflection so you'll be useful in melee. Frenzy will cancel that out but you'll be somewhat quicker and stronger. With enemies that you don't want to engage you'll sit back and pepper them with arrows (sure handed will come in handy here). Since you're not playing on potd defelection is less necesaary but if you want hide armor you will probably only engage foes in melee if they engage you first (you won't be much of a tank without supplemental buffs and healing from other party members). You will need healers and probably ancient memory, beloved spirits and vets recovery so you can draw more from your overall health pool and maintain survivability. I'll likely tweak the build I showed you initially in the screenshots so that you can use weapons without too hefty a penalty (probably won't dump dex much if at all). If you have an idea of what the rest of your party will be class, role and build-wise that will really help in how I craft the character.

Quick question: where will your chanter be more often in relation to your party? Front line, second line, flanking, or third line?

I will work on something when I get a chance.