dgray62
-
Posts
1363 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Content Type
Profiles
Forums
Blogs
Everything posted by dgray62
-
Thanks for the advise, Thelee. Since Weyc's wand comes so late I was thinking that Magran's Favor and Marux Amanth would be the ideal weapon set until you get the wand.
-
I believe this is the case; you may note that I asked about which upgrade to use on Magran's Favor above.
-
Thanks for the advice Thelee. Would you recommend Mari Crudia or Roe for the 15% beneficial effect duration as you did with your Umezawa build?
-
By the way, what armor do you recommend for this build? DoC breastplate?
-
This looks like a lot of fun, Thelee. I'm going to try this build out ASAP. How do you upgrade Magran's Favor? With Blazing Core and Burning Burst? I always wonder whether Blazing Core or Living Pyre is the better upgrade for this axe.
-
As a Helwalker monk, the damage malus is less concerning than it seems, since you can control it. If you're getting hit a lot you can reduce or eliminate it by spending wounds. Blade Turning also really helps, by both spending wounds and making you temporarily invulnerable to melee damage. As Kaylon indicated, wearing heavy armor or attacking from range (with hand mortar & fire in the hole particularly) can really help. If you want to melee, Tuotilo's Palm also really helps. Abraham pet really helps too. It will partially offset the recovery penalty from heavy armor, and heal you on kills; since you're a Helwalker with potentially very high STR, those heals will be substantial, and will come often.
-
I wonder if a streetfighter/forbidden fist shadowdancer would have better synergy? You could use fists in the main hand and a blunderbuss in the off hand, and alternate between melee (with the fist) and ranged with the blunderbuss modal on to get flanked/distracted. This would give you wounds as a forbidden fist, and the speed boost as a shadow dancer. Enfeebled from the forbidden fist curse would also enable deep wounds/deathblows. Since you'd stack RES, you'd be tankier than your average shadowdancer, and streetfighter would help you make up the DPS potential you'd otherwise lose with a tankier build. Couldn't really use the large shield tho.
-
I have encountered the same problems that you describe, NotBad. I love playing Ascendant ciphers (SC or MC), but there is a weird tension between getting the focus to ascend and then spamming out all of the powers that you can while it lasts. When my MC is a Ascendant cipher, I usually have to choose companions and sidekicks who are very low micro. Usually I go with Eder as swashbuckler and Teheku as theurge. I add a custom herald as well, and add a sidekick as well, usually Mirke. As an alernative, you might try playing a SC helwalker monk. My run as a helwalker monk was the first to finish the game. They are not as squishy as they seem; the key in the early game is to spam the wounds quickly with Force of Anguish. Once you reach Neketaka you can steal Tuotilio's palm; with it you'll be much stronger defensively with only a slight DPS drop. Later, when you get Whisper of the Winds, monks ascend to an ungodly level of martial power.
-
So bleeding cuts' raw damage counts toward the 1000 raw damage needed to upgrade the axe?
-
Thanks for the advice, Thelee. I did use your Gamefaqs guide, but posted my question here as I know that you still visit this forum. I hadn't thought to use helm of the white void and the ring of focused flame to boost sparkcrackers, but that makes a lot of sense. Using Ooblit also is a great idea, given how important it is to bolster positive effects with this build. And you did mention the sparkcrackers nerf in your gamefaqs guide. Once I got marux amanth, I typically would open up battles with thunderous report followed by the blunderbuss modal attack, to get heated up, and then would switch to the daggers. When the blunderbuss modal wore off I would try the sparkcrackers. I think I most likely attempted this with arcane veil up. Too bad spark crackers aren't veil piercing! I purchased Rokowa's Fingers but hadn't tried using them. I forgot that the nerf didn't apply to it. I'll equip them ASAP.
-
Thelee, I had a follow up question on this build. Playing it with a melee weapon in one hand (Pukestabber) and a hand mortar in the other worked very well. I'd open up with an attack at range to get distracted and flanked from the blunderbuss modal, then attack with Pukestabber at melee range, firing off the blunderbuss again when necessary to heat up again. However, when I got Marux Amanth and dual wielded it Pukestabber, the game became much more troublesome. This was mainly because I keep trying to distract myself with sparkcrackers to heat up, but almost always miss myself. Should I try using sparkcrackers before the flanked/distracted state wears off, to make myself easier to hit?
-
Thanks for the tip, thelee. I think I will bind it to my paladin; the hostile effects suspension does sound more useful, and it will be much easier to get 20 afflictions that dealing 1000 raw damage with carnage not counting.
-
I just started a fanatic build (berserker/kindwayfarer), and I eventually want to get the Slayer's Claw for the nice upgrade to Energized when using frenzy. I wonder if it would be better to bind Slayer's Claw as a barbarian or paladin. The former gives +1 penetration when hit for 8 seconds (stackable to +3), while the latter gives 8 seconds of hostile effects suspension. At first glance, the extra penetration sounds best since I'm playing on PotD. However, I was wondering if the extra penetration from Slayer's Claw stacks with the +2 penetration from the Tenacious/Energized inspirations. If not, then the paladin perk would be better I think. Has anyone tested this? I find the stacking rules very complex, and have no idea if these boosts would stack or not.
-
If I remember correctly, when ascended one's focus is at the maximum, but zero is listed as the focus cost of all powers.
-
Haplok, you're right. Thanks for the correction. Body Blows and Willbreaker's will debuff apply on hit, so I thought that it would be applied by carnage hits, like LDV's static charge. But I tested it, and they do not; they only apply to the main target. I didn't realize that LDV's static charge was an exception to the general rule.
-
A witch wielding The Willbreaker would be particularly good, since hits with Willbreaker (with the morning star modal on) will debuff both FORT and WILL for both the main target and those hit by carnage attacks, making them more vulnerable to physical attacks once you have Brute force, and also more vulnerable to cipher powers. This would be a strong offense is the best defense build, I think. You'd get hit a lot, but with high armor, high HP and some healing from companions this build would be very sturdy.
-
Thanks for the advice, thelee. I upgraded it accordingly, and am now working my way through Poko Kohara to get Marux Amanth.
-
As Boeroer stated, it's really easy to knock yourself out with Necrotic Lance, which will yield the Acute Rash injury, which is relatively minor. If you're playing an evoker, Aloth or Fassina can do it for you.
-
thelee, I am trying your build and it is a lot of fun. I just got Pukestabber, and having never before used this weapon, I was wondering if you upgraded it with Debauchery or Iron Stomach. I presume that the former is the case, but I just wanted to check. I certainly do not want to double over and vomit in the midst of battle.
-
Thanks for enlightening me regarding confusion's effect on intellect inspirations. I'll try both armors and see which seems to work best.
-
Thanks to both of you, Haplok and Boeroer, for your helpful answers. I see that I have a decision to make. I was planning on going with Disciplined Strikes and using the DoC breastplate to mitigate confusion; the fighter ability fearless to deal with shaken. I like the idea of using Giphon Prudenso to gain flanked immunity and then using Tactical Barrage to deal with confusion. But wouldn't frenzy's confusion downgrade acute to smart? You'd thus effectively lose that +1 PL as soon as you activate frenzy, right?
-
I am playing a Berserker/Tactician wielding LDV, and was wondering whether it would be best to pick Disciplined Strikes or Tactical Barrage. Specifically, does the 25% hit to critical hit conversion from Intuitive stack with the Berserker frenzy's 30% hit to critical hit conversion? If so, Disciplined Strikes is the way to go. If not, I'll select Tactical Barrage instead for a somewhat more reliable intellect inspiration.
-
Or you might consider a Helwalker/Skald combo. I've been playing Powerotti's Rumbling Boar build, and it's loads of fun. Very durable and powerful!
-
Thanks for advice, Boeroer and Haplock. I think I will end up using three grimoires, Ninagauth's Teachings, Llengrath's Martial Masteries & Iron-Clasped, and will just take key spells missing from these, such as Combusting Wounds, Arcane Shield & chain lightning for Deltro's Cage helmet shennanigans. Fortunately Battlemages are pretty sturdy and do not rely as heavily on the defensive buff spells as some other builds do.
-
I've tried Psion/Troubadour and it is great. But I want to try Psion/Lifegiver in my next run.
