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Eeeh, there are still some fun shenanigans to discuss, like how blood mage is once again the best wizard build due to how obscene HP stacking is (also, with all the HP regen consumables, and stuff like barbaric shout that gives you temp HP), and that you can wear heavy armor with very little downside, since you cast mainly from HP.

@Shai Hulud Thanks for the inspiration! I'll give his celebrant multiclass a go this time, particularly since I want someone to use sasha's singing scimitar. Of course he's no troubadour, but it will be very useful to delegate some of the chanting to him. Actually could be fun to have the gun line in the back - Wildrhymer MC (spearcaster), Herald Pallegina (dragon's dowry) and Celebrant Vatnir (blightheart) with sure-handed ila/mith fyr or Stumbling words for bosses, thick grew their tongues, ancient memory and whatever else. Some summoning invocations to Pallegina, some offensive ones to Vatnir - hot damn, maybe 3 chanters is too much, but I just love this concept of three singing gunners

Hmmm...I've never actually multiclassed priest companions because I love symbols and late-PL priest spells in general. I'm intrigued though - what makes Vatnir a very good chanter/priest combo?

It has so far impressed me even more than your bleakwalker/AA build Excellent - will definitely pick up Frostseeker then. It's a shame that elemental lashes that Spearcaster can get do not get rid of AA accuracy malus (though it still gets so much accuracy from arcane...).

Yes, the charm/dominate are just very annoying to me, so I really don't mind running fampyr's gaze preventively in those fights where these afflictions might cause many problems (thankfully those are not as common as con and res afflictions). I do like the idea of buffing through upgraded Bride invocation though. Even though I have a priest on the team, this should still be very useful in a pinch. Or I just use the ability points for stalker's link...

I think I'm going to replace superior camouflage + the ancient weapons invocation with stalker's link. Comes late, but oh well. Too many other useful abilities out there. Then I can also forego Many lives... and take mercy and kindness or 10 damage shield so I can spam it with brisk recitation if needed. Other character can focus on summoning if needed.

Hmm, you've convinced me to invest in stalker's link. At least for bosses, it might be very well worth it to get as much accuracy as possible. I plan to have Xoti/Vatnir (priest), Eder, and Aloth (battlemage) on my team permanently and save the last spot for Ydwin, Maja or Pallegina (with dual blunderbusses). With Aloth or Ydwin it is usually pretty easy to hit with perception debuffs. As for pet healing, since don't tend to send it in the fray too much, it hasn't really died on me yet. Since my AA/Troubadour can interrupt really well as well and paralyze from Killers froze... is also an option, I usually can save my pet or companions if they are getting too much heat. I initially wanted to take play dead, but 2 bond cost hurts too much, if I have a cheap withdraw on my priest... I did take a bear! Top tier pet for me both in terms of looks and survivability

I usually take stalker's link on all my rangers, but I just don't use my pet much with this character. It acts as a bodyguard sometimes or blocks some space on the frontline, if needed. I just felt so greedy spending 2 whole points for a very situational +10 accuracy... Concussive tranquilizer could actually be a good pick for the later levels, but I do have some debuffers (Xoti priest, Aloth and occasionally Ydwin) on my team, and as AA I rarely spend bond on something that's not imbue spells. I mainly plan to take superior camouflage because of Maja's garb with 'return fire' enchantment. I also do tend to reposition quite a bit with this character to target dangerous casters, so this does come into play once in a while. But as you said, maybe worth giving up for stalker's link. I have some room towards the later levels to probably squeeze in two ranger abilities... As for affliction removing chants - I usually don't like respecing for specific fights, so I plan to take them all because with brisk recitation they are pretty amazing. Maybe I won't need the Seven men... one, because I have unstoppable on both of my tanks and could potentially get body control on them as well.

Thanks for all your helpful advice, @Boeroer, @thelee, @Shai Hulud! I actually tried AA/Troubadour, got to lvl 11 or so, and this build absolutely slaps in terms of constant interrupts, usefulness to the team, damage, and I haven't even gotten to the energized invocation yet... With acina's tricorn, Maja's armor, gunner, and Sure-handed Ila reloading is pretty much a non-issue. So far it has been able to consistently bully bosses. The only tiny downside is the knockback from the Spearcaster which can sometimes make it difficult to consistently target far enemies. So far I went with these abilities: Marked prey > Hel Hyraf / Come,come... Resilient Companion Vicious Companion Marksman > One dozen... Two-handed style Gunner Marked for the Hunt > Sure-handed Ila... Ben Fidel Killers Froze... Evasive roll > Mith Fyr Thick grew their tongues... The shield cracks Driving flight > Ben Fidel's neck... Seven Men... Uncanny luck(?) Survival of the fittest > Their champion... Improved Critical Fampyr's Gaze Superior camouflage(?) > Instruments of death (?) Many lives...(?) I haven't completed the build yet, and not sure what will work best toward the later levels. I would really like to fit "the bride" invocation and possibly the upgrade (as recommended by @thelee and @Shai Hulud), and I'm considering replacing uncanny luck and/or the last two chanter abilities. Instruments and many lives... are both excellent summoning abilities that I usually take on all my chanters, so I'm not sure. I also play with the community patch that buffs uncanny luck somewhat to make it at least worth considering. The affliction resistance chants have been very useful so far, especially in combination with brisk recitation, as @Boeroer suggested, and I will definitely keep them as they add a lot of utility to the char. I wonder also, what would be the most efficient chant setup though - so far I have sure-handed Ila + mith fyr as a damage + reload speed and a separate song for each resistance chant, so I can turn them on with brisk recitation if needed. Finally, I plan to add dragon's dowry and frostseeker as two alternative weapons to the build. Frostseeker doesn't benefit as much from the sure-handed Ila chant, but it is such a nice weapon to use with AA, and I assume its AOE also can interrupt with energized?

Thank you, @Boeroer - now I understand what your plan was with this char. Reallocating the AC to bodyguard duty actually frees up a whole bunch of ability points, that's great!

Thanks, @thelee - I usually don't like to respec, but the buffing invocations actually sound much better than the summon for my current party. I usually take dmg invocations and affliction removal phrases + thick grew their tongues... for my chanter, maybe I'll shift some points to phrases as well. Good to have some songs for affliction removal just in case.

Hi @Boeroer! I used your arcane archer/pally build with a spearcaster & dragon's dowry with a party on PotD and it had a very significant impact. I've been thinking about AA/chanter build as well, but even at the planning stage it does not quite sit well with me. Both chanter and AA have a lot of very useful passives (AA), invocations and chants (Chanter) and I am not sure how to focus the build to make it most useful to the team overall, as you intended. Sure-handed ila + myth fyr are good dps choices, I guess from invocations one could focus on summons (drakes and ancient weapons later on) + their champion to interrupt on imbued web, but I find drakes much less impactful later on in the game. On the ranger side, there are quite a few passives to pick up for the animal companion, plus the usual marksman/gunner(is it even needed with sure-handed ila?)/driving flight and so on. Would also be good to somehow squeeze in takedown > takedown combo too. Feels very ability-starved to be impactful, but that is just me planning ahead, so I am not sure how it would perform in later stages of the game. Overall I am not sure I am seeing the clear role and contribution of this character - AA/pally felt much more impactful, at least in early/mid levels - accuracy can be stacked higher, and I think that overall dps with eternal devotion is better (despite fast reload & myth fyr on the chanter). Having energized is nice, but AA/pally can reliably interrupt single dangerous targets when it matters most anyway. Could you please explain what works so well with this character that you consider it most useful overall for your team as a ranged build?

I actually prefer more micro in this game, at least for your own char. Anyway, it seems like for some mundane encounters there are quite a few tools to fall back on for fighter/wizard, even just using clear out with the willbreaker. I also love how it fits a 'scarecrow' theme, terrifying enemies together with your ghostly double and relentlessly chasing them down. Hmm, I also wonder if berserker + wizard or cipher would work for a character that benefits both morningstar melee and casting by capitalizing on debuffs. Tenacious and higher crit chance benefits both, but the scaling hp loss at high levels is so annoying...

Wow, thanks for a mini-guide on Morningstar builds, @Boeroer! What a helpful summary! Now I’m tempted to go for a wizard multiclass with substantial/essential phantom and take someone like mirke as a SC monk with Saru-sichr for deadly triple morningstar power

I guess the one thing that does not quite work for me in relation to the soulblade subclass is that the focus is perhaps too much on melee side. A weapon like WotEP would probably work better for it, plus you are always incentivized to just spam soul annihilation. I want to exploit debuffs provided by the Willbreaker via spells and still hit hard with the morningstar itself. I thought that ascendant would be too casting focused, and beguiler - a decent trade-off.

Thanks, I have been considering a soulblade, perhaps it would be better for a stronger focus on melee. Would you recommend a no subclass barb? I really like the furyshaper totems, specifically the 'Fear' one - really fits the witch theme IMO. Also - why the low DEX?

Thanks! So far I've been thinking about either devoted / blood mage (with a heavy focus on illusion and various corrosive spells that target fortitude) or furyshaper/beguiler (great accuracy buffs from cipher, lots of cc, disintegrate & Spirit Tornado) and I can't really decide between the two. Haven't thought about combining beguiler and BM though. I would like to focus equally on willbreaker melee and casting, but with cipher and BM combo perhaps it would be easier to give the morningstar debuffing function to a different character and focus on casts?

Hi! Recently I’ve been appreciating morningstars in Deadfire quite a bit, particularly the infamous Willbreaker. Since it gives you the ability to debuff both fortitude and will, I’ve been wondering how to best use this in a build. Barbarian/cipher seems like a pretty good candidate for willbreaker, or perhaps devoted/blood mage or barb/bloodmage? If you have some ideas on the build that utilizes this weapon in the best way - please share!

This sounds like a very fun build, thanks for the inspiration to build another character, @thelee. Why not a cat form for the spiritshift? What would you prioritize among the attributes? I assume INT needs to be maxed to allow spiritshifting for longer. High PER is also probably a must. Since this one is meant to be quite tanky, would any extra points to RES be recommended, or base should be enough with stalker's bonuses? Overall since this build is trying to be many things at the same time, seems a bit attribute-starved, or am I wrong?

Hi @Haplok! Sorry for summoning you in this old thread, but I was very curious about your Helwalker/Ascendant "mid-range" build. I was trying to build something similar but feel extremely ability-starved. There are so many monk passives/abilities that are great, but I want to have a good selection of cipher spells (since this character is equally about casting AND doing damage with weapons). Cipher also has several passives that are must-haves, like hammering thoughts or greater focus. Which monk & cipher abilities did you pick up for this character?

Now I’m wondering - would berserker/wizard be an even better nuker? Wizard has self-buffs (also to get int inspirations) and more spells that would benefit from +PEN. Blood mage is an obvious choice, but I’m thinking evoker for +2 PL and echo

Ah, that makes sense. I mostly used Tekehu as the party Druid in all my past games. Will get this spell on Fassina!

I never even considered the oozes! If you can control them, as you do chanter summons, it might be worth getting if not for this character, then for Tekehu... Actually now I'm considering adding Fassina to the party for once as a Sorcerer and drown the enemies in oozes, maggots, and bees, while they are constantly being stunned by lightning

I was rolling a helwalker/blood mage not so long ago, so my Tekehu is used to keeping my MCs alive... Compared to that character, my Tempest is a picture of health! Ahhh, indeed - it also should show up! Thanks for the tip, I somehow completely forgot... I was also wondering, do you have any tips for the PLVII druid spell? Rusted armor is probably an overkill, but I don't really have much experience with the rest ot the spells on this level. Is the tentacle vine any good?

Wow, thanks a lot, as always, for so many useful insights, @Boeroer! I put some hp-restoring gear on this character to mitigate berserker's hp loss (trollhide belt, three trolls stitched, maybe will consider a voidward ring later), but with Tekehu in party so far it feels pretty safe. Taste of the hunt helps a lot! Thanks for the tip on health-on-kill stuff, I also have Xoti in this party, and will have her learn triumph of the crusaders as well. I really don't want to pick Rusted Armor, but I wil be forced to pick something on the druid side at level 19. Maybe if I drop Blood storm, as you suggest later, I can get stalwart instead. Perhaps with the DoC armor I should have enough rage points, so Blood storm is not really needed... On the other hand, if I DO get blood storm, I will have more rage to use for Savage defiance... Ah, too bad that it won't work with infestation of maggots. In any case, raw damage is probably even better. I was thinking about scion of flame, but decided to skip it in favor of unflinching. It's very interesting that you can intentionally drop HP to activate unflinching when you need to clear afflictions. Too bad it's a bit difficult to estimate HP with a berserker... I guess taking human and checking when "blooded" bonus activates could be an option, but I went with pale elf for RP purposes. I also considered bloody slaughter, and at the time it seemed like it's getting more advantage in a situation that is already in your favour. But there is a nice synergy with Barbaric Smash, as you mentioned. Should also make me use this ability more often, so far I'm not very fond of barbaric blow on this build. If only there was room to fit bloody slaughter - I just really love the maggots spell and don't want to give it up on this PL. I had leap on seraphen before (I always build him as a SC barb for some reason) and loved it, but it seemed like the AOE debuff is to short to matter. Leap-cancelling to save rage points sounds amazing though! Maybe I should just ditch barbaric blow/smash for it... HMMM...