[Need some advice for my POTD upscale run please]

Essence Interruptor usully does the job there fairly easily if you have a decent tank. Sometimes I hire a devoted/ghost heart for the early game to just autoattack through the first few levels with Essence Interruptor. Lord Darryn's Voulge also comes in handy there.

[I have some questions (item - ability interactions)]

47 minutes ago, Constentin Lévine said:

Ryngrim's Repulsive Visage can be casted several time in the same moment, to increase the chance to proc. Of course, an enemy already terrified will see the Terrified affliction refreshed, it is not bad because the effect has a short duration. 

You can take, as a shield, The Best Defense : the enchantment Terrifying to Face work on any weapon kill and, well, terrify nearby enemies. As Bashing Shield, that can be useful for you. 

I dont know why, but I thought Riposte only proc a primary attack.

I never really considered The Best Defense. Honestly I haven't even read it properly it seems, just dismissed it as yet another bashing shield that's not Tuotilo's (I think I only ever did the Seeker path on one playthrough). Never noticed that it has damage scaling instead of deflection. Also Terrifying to Face seems super convenient for such a build, I think you might have just sold me on this one, and then Unbroken it is. The occasional riposts being being better is just icing on the cake. Shame that it comes fairly late.

[I have some questions (item - ability interactions)]

10 hours ago, Boeroer said:

It works and is strong if you can terrify enemies often enough - but it's not 100% reliable because the movement of terrified enemies is random. Sometimes they just crouch down, sometimes they just crawl around you. They have to actually leave the break the engagement by walking away too far, yes. But that's a very short distance so it happens often enough. Sometimes they leave, catch a disengagement attack and come right back and leave again to catch another. The best Fighter subclass for this combo would be the Unbroken. Especially later with Deathblows and Overbearing Guard the disengagement attacks become superbrutal. Of course best done with a high-dmg per hit weapon (so, basically two handers - although that prevents you from using one of the Unbroken passives that work with a shield). 

I played an unbroken/trickster as a hired adventurer, but that build focused on pumping deflection and procing Riposte and since Riposte is a full attack, I used Tuotilo's Palm. I actually regret not going Devoted on that build in hindsight. Now obviously focusing on both terrifying enemies and deflection/riposte at the same time is a pretty big nonbo, so lower deflection would sufice.

As for the subclass, Unbroken's +10 pen is surely huge, however I can't terrify everything, and I would already have a lot of engagement slots + persistent distraction. At that point Tactician starts to become appealing, as it would allow to spam abilities. On the other hand, Unbroken could turtle up very effectively when terrifying is not an option. I think both have their merits. The Tactician/Trickster is more universal though, and could completely change layout without respeccing, if terrifying is not an option.

As you said, high damage per hit weapons would be most beneficial, and I remember reading your post about acquiring Citzal's great sword. Now normally I don't like to exploit the game engine, but this time, I might make an exception, as it feels like the ideal weapon here. Overbearing Guard + One Dozen Stood + great sword modal would resul in huge (and accurate!) disengagement attacks. Now that I mention it, a greatsword devoted/trickster focusing on riposte could be fun, and could also use WOTEP to change it up

Voidwheel + Refreshing Defense should also be a fine combo.

[I have some questions (item - ability interactions)]

Some more questions came to mind...

1. Instruments of Pain + Wotep: does it increase the cone by +500% to a giant cone? That'd be kinda nice with Soul Anihilation. Do the secondary AOE hits proc Hearthbeat Drumming? 

2. If I create a Fighter (not set on subclass yet)/Trickster that's focusigin on terrifying enemies to proc disengagment, how reliable would it be, would they actually have to move out of engagement range? I sort of know how the mechanics work on paper, but would like to hear about it from someone who has seen it in practice.

3. This is once again a question of how something works in practice. The build would be Steel Garrote/Streetfighter, with a chanter also chanting for additional 12% drain. I'd go human and aim for Voidwheel to get bloodied as soon as possible. Eventually only use Voidwheel until I get bloodied, then switch to Chromoprismatic. With all the recovery reduction, it could activate qstaff modal for +20 deflection (Nalvi on Edér + Abraham + probably Contender's armor and Helm of the Falcon). Reasonably high CON so being bloodied is still not horribly low hp. Could a build like this function as a main tank with proper setup?

[My new healbot build]

Just now, Boeroer said:

Iirc an animal companion counts as party member. I have no idea if Ghost Heart's animal companion is an exception because it's a summoned spirit. I didn't play Ghost Hearts much...

Good thing is that non-ghost heart animal companion can be revived without limit because they don't suffer injuries.

 

 

 

I'm in the middle of a Stalker/Soulblade playthrough, and I have to say I really prefer Ghost Hearth for the later parts of the game at this point. Initially the bear was truly beastly, but as encounters get harder and harder, it gets very tedious to keep it alive, and I try to do everything to passively boost its defences: troubadour chanting, endurance aura, Shining Beacon, Hearth Defender's Scales (I massacred Junvik Vilage). The engagement immunity in particular is what I really miss (I always rolled ghost hearts before - or Maia obviously). Not sure if Stalker bonuses are better than having Ghost Hearth at this point, even if I do focus on the AC and go melee with it. I really think the passive bonus should scale a bit. Spending bond to resummon is no different than spending it on healing, and not having to deal with grief/dilemma is also a big upside. Meanwhile Maia is running on AI, Ishiza stays stealthed and ever since she got Driving Flight, she is taking over my watcher in overall damage done. Will see what happens when I get to Takedown Combo + Desintegration.

Maybe I'm just mad, because I couldn't do Memories of a Mad Man trial with a lvl 15/14 party in 2 tries

[My new healbot build]

On 8/17/2022 at 1:41 PM, Boeroer said:

I once made a single class Kind Wayfarer with dual pistols (Scordeo's Trophy + Eccea's Arcane Blaster) who used all the reloading bonuses he could get. You can hit the reloading floor (can't go faster) rel. early then.

This included a Troubadour in the party who sung Many Lives Pass By with Brisk Recitation. 

There was also a confused Berserker/Devoted who used Amra's Riven Gore and Carnage to accitentially kill those skeletons around him while attacking the enemies. This triggered Blood Thirst and cleaves from Mob Stance which turned him into an human-sized Blender.

Devine Retribution of the SC Paladin also triggers when your parties' summons die - and the skeletons died faster than the Troubadour could summon them, providing an endless stream of Zeal for the Kind Wayfarer whom I simply set to AI and let him fire White Flames nonstop. He not only kept the whole party at high health but also did rely decent single target damage with those very fast pistol shots + lash.

So - one of the best healers I ever had was a SC Paladin. Also one of the most boring ones to play because I didn't even have to touch him.

 

 

 

This sounds amazing actually, never noticed that Divine Retribution says ally and not party member (this kinda makes me wanna roll SC paladin).

I have a followup question. Do effects that specify party member count animal companions? Specifically thinking about abusing Ghost Heart with it of course (with Neriscyrlas' Hope and Burden and whatever other effect I find if I start researching it).

A quick note on the build I outlined: it feels amazing on easy to moderately hard encounters, but in the really hard ones I'm crying for my usual turtle Herald with the Shieldberer LOHs.

[My new healbot build]

I like herald because in most cases it spares me the trouble of having to deal with healing in most fights altogether. Just stands around with endurance aura, ancient memory, mercy and kindness and maybe throws in an occasional emergency LoH (Shieldberer LoH is kinda OP too, especially on a Herald, pretty much a full heal, and insanely fast cast), if someone eats a big crit. I don't like having to bother with actual healing spells, that's why I chose herald. 

This Kind Wayfarer version is fun though, punching stuff for AOE heals is way more entertaining than actually healing. I ditched the bashing shield momentarily in my ongoing playthrough. Herald not having access to Monastic Training takes away a lot from their (and I mean Tuotilo's) effectiveness. So it's Sasha's and Sun and Moon for now.

[My new healbot build]

So I always ran a shieldberer/troubadour when I wanted to have a strong healer in the party, max res/mig/enough int to reach 20 (16 base usually) for the double linger, evened out dex/con. It is a great build, and I'm sure many of us used it, but it is kinda boring, does nothing but heals, occasinoaly can cheese a fight with Brand Enemy and that's about it (then you reload anyway, because real men don't cheese fights). Upside is that it can function as an afk tank in emergencies.

Then last playthrough my watcher was a kind wayfarer (never played that subclass before), and my idea of a healbot started to shift a bit. I still think the AFK version is great, but there are merits to using a kind wayferer troubadour that actually hits stuff. White Flames AOE would be pretty reasonable with 20 INT + Ring of Overseeing (although a case can be made for Chameleon's Touch, Focused Flames is kind of mandatory), then buff its output with Physicker's belt and Footprints of Ahu Taka (and Mercy and Kindness in the lategame). Obviously we would need it to do the full attack with dual wield, so a bashing shield is in order (any works really, maybe have multiple setupts, in case if medium shield modal is needed). Dual wielding actual weapons is an option too obviously, but I like my healers as sturdy as possible. The focus is not on the damage so any of them work. Ring of Focused flames, and Gauntlets of Greater Reliability to make sure the attacks have good hit chance. Then the weapon of choice. Obvious one is Sun and Moon, but I actually think with the combination of Devil of Caroc breastplate, and the action speed aura upgrade, Sasha's Singing Scimitar is an amazing here. Sasha's also allows lower dex (+2 dex from the boots too). Self mending is a nice touch on top of its base stats. Then upgrade Flames of Devotion to Shared Flames. This together is big boost to the party's dps output, and the shorter the fight, the less healing is needed, so even better. The focus should not be on doing damage (not directly at least), so if needed a club/flail/hatchet can be used for the modal. All the key pieces are there from Nekataka too.

I've been stalking these boards for a while and never really bumped into a herald build like this, so I figured I share my idea (admittedly, I never reasearched healer builds, so it might be out there).

[Help me chose my next watcher build]

5 hours ago, thelee said:

tekehu has a pretty good subclass, but it comes with major drawbacks: missing out on fire keyword spells and no summons; no summons is not that big a deal unless you single-class a druid at which point you start missing out on some decent summons (lashing vine, oozes, fire stag). so while it's definitely good, a custom mainchar druid can achieve different niches than tekehu. 

importantly watcher abilities to get brilliant (and to a lesser extent energized or intuitive), but it's only one/day so without rest-spamming it's not a huge differentiator. the best thing a watcher druid can do is do something different from what tekehu is pigeon-holing himself into, or multiclassing, even with a chanter (since tekehu's chanter is wildly different from any other chanter).

 

personally, i would recommend a druid build if you haven't done one before. always good to try something new IMO, and after giving a druid a whirl a few times I'm a big fan of the playstyle. i'm not as big a fan of berserker set up as others, but a tactician/druid would be very powerful if you can keep good uptime on that brilliant buff. if you want to do something wildly different than tekehu, than maybe a shifter/trickster? (lean into shape-shifting plus tons of defensive and offensive goodies from trickster)

I started Tactician/Druid, made it to Nekataka, before having an urge to roll up a stalker. My planned earlygame combo of WoTeP + Taste for the hun will have to wait a bit. Will switch back to it eventually, doing parallel playthroughs is fun. Will still take Tekehu for the watershaper chill fog, so it's a full druid experiment 

The stalker is a bit squishier than expected, but still fun. Ectopsychic echo was better on Ghost Heart where I could just let the pet rush in without engagement or fear of bonded grief, but it's still a fun combo. Maybe I should just use it on Ishi, since I do take Maia, but that would lessen the roleplay. Rushed to Sayuka for Stalker's patience to have constant dot applied for the bonus pet damage, using Thaos' Headdreass and microing the pet to always flank, pretty fun, does way more damage than expected. I'm just a sucker for Seer, even if this is the first time I play it as melee.

[Help me chose my next watcher build]

I've been literally sitting on character creation screen for days, so I figured I'd ask some opinions for my watcher's build on my next playthrough. I'm planning to use Edér (swashbuckler), Tekehu (druid) and Maia (scout) with some sort of a ranged cipher MC (ranger or chanter).

So my ideas are:

Berserker/Druid - I NEVER used druid in deadfire, and this intrigues me. I'd use Lord Darryn's Voulge most probably and Deltro's cage with the extra pen and might from frenzy. Int affliction removal either with Modwyr switching or with drink/food/svef. Not sure how tedious it would be to track my health, I only played with berserker multiclassed with devoted, and unbending + voidward was enough to be on full life pretty much every time my frenzy ran out. Sounds like a high risk - high reward build.

Tactician/Druid - applying Taste of the Hunt with WOTEP sounds fun (am I correct that it applies it in AOE?) early on and with this party setup Brilliant comes easy. Tekehu's chill fog + Edér's persistent distraction + the cipher can easily set it up. Should be very sturdy and adaptible build.

Druid: I already plan to play Tekehu as a druid and his sublcass sounds superior, I guess he would become a Stormspeaker or multi if I do pure druid. Does druid get a lot of benefits from the watcher's bonuses compared to Tekehu/hired adventurer?

Berserker/Steel Garrote: I want to play with Lord Darryn's Voulge a bit, but I already played devoted/berserker, and the lack of other good polexas would lock me into that single weapon, which I might get bored of. This build would have the flexibility of other weapons, and I'm hoping that the passive drain coupled with Spirit Frenzy (and/or party debuffs) would be enough to counter Berserker's self damage. Also would become very tanky in the endgame with stoic steel + hardy + thick skinned + heart defender's scale aura from Edér (and I have a fetish for AR stacking).

Unbroken/Trickster - this is a build I already played on a hired adventurer for a few levels, but could get a bit extra out of it on the watcher, plus on the hired dude, I usually just let it play on AI after initial agro grabbing. Tutotilo's Palm setup.

Devoted/Rogue - would aim for Voidwheel. Strightforward greatsword striker build. 

Stalker/Soulblade - takedown combo + soul anihilation. Cipher has good synergies with the pet. Seer is my most played class though, I just never played it in melee. It would free up the hired adventurer slot for a herald healbot.

 

[Creating a fully custom group for PotD.]

6 hours ago, Evershade said:

Thank you for this one!

What I would ideally like to find is a tank build that is very hard to instantly drop even if it is assaulted with focused fire and does not require too much attention on my part. I don't mind managing tanks, but I would preferably like to manage my Watcher and other dpsers on the team, or the active healing, when needed.

If you go stalker, then deffinitely take Edér. +2 armor for both you and your bear is nuts, and Nalvi for recovery bonus for the rest of the group (honestly Edér's party bonuses are crazy, and I like the guy). Tekehu with specific builds can also perform extremely well, thanks to his unique subclasses. Like he is amazing at setting up Tacticians with the foe only Chill Fog he gets from Watershaper and there are some insane combos you can do with his Stormspeaker subclass and the Effort great sword if you go single class. I often take Maia for the gunhawk subclass, as a scout. She is very good at picking off casters with her increased range and built in interrupts. Scout gets all the acc/damage from the class, the suboptimal stat spread is nothing compared to the benefits gunhawk offers. The other companions I'm not so keen on from a powergamer standpoint.

I can second Boeroer on fighter + something. Devoted/Unbroken/Tactician are all amazing multiclasses. I'm planning a Tactician/Druid right now that applies Taste of the Hunt with WoTeP in an AOE, then switches weapons until the DOT needs to be reapplied. Probably gonna take Edér and Tekehu with him with a Seer and not sure on the last party member.

Tactician/soulblade was my 2nd plythrough, very sturdy build as well that sets up Brilliant tactician for himself, while also dishes out damage.

Tactician gets better the more you put into your party.

You can just stack a tonn of armor and use unbending with high might and int in the lategame. Like I made a Devoted/Berserker after I killed Memnok on my last playthrough to make use of the Chromoprismatic staff, and despite the berserker selfdot, unbending and high armor kept him up without anything but the passive heal of my herald even in harder encounters.

Warcaller can also be a nice tank, it is not just sitting around with the agro. I used mine as unbending/trubadour. He has a +10 deflection/+1 engagement chant, and with 20 int you can linger 2 chants (or go for brisk recitation and invocations). Unbroken can be changed to Tactician, if you are using a tactician party, brilliant + brisk recitation returns phrases super fast to use on invocations.

Unbroken/trickster is another fun tank build. I used it with Tuotilo's Palm and monastic training. It does very good damage for a tank with the riposts and autoattacks. Throw in the 15% drain chant from a chanter and it probably doesn't need much looking after. I guess it would work well as a Steel Garrote paladin too instead of Unbroken.

[Creating a fully custom group for PotD.]

Even for a full power gaming party I like Edér. Heart Defender's Scale and 2nd pet (for me it's usually Nalvi), makes up for no subclass and unpotimized stats spread imo. I like taking a Seer. It was my first watcher build on my initial playthrough (potd), and I find it hard to let go. Steady good damage output with all the cipher goodness. If I hire a second adventerure, that's my herald usually haha.

As for your watcher's build, take one that has an engaging, interactive playstyle. I think most of us focus on the watcher the most, and a build that can be set on an AI and let go can get boring real quick. The Spearcaster build can definitely work on a companion, and doesn't feel like it would need much micromanagement. The druid/barb combo on the other had sounds like something you want to pay a close attention to.

[Tanky Inquisitor POTD build]

6 hours ago, Raven Darkholme said:

Idk why you would think Amra is subpar?

The battle axe modal is the best modal in the game the only weapon type you can dualwield that feels equally good is .... one-handed battle axes.

There is also so many ways to reduce recovery and all dw gives you is less recovery.

Maybe I just never took Amra far enough, always stopped my builds around level 8-10. It just feels like there are real standout one handers and ranged weapons, and the mods on unique two handers don't really compare. Like Magran's Favor and Slayer's Claw are both super amazing to begin with, compared to those, Amra feels (at least to me) subpar, as I said.

[How can I modify this dual wielding Inquisitor build (Soulblade/Bleak Walker) into a Soulblade/Kind Wayfarer who uses a Sword and Shield?]

Kind Wayfarer and shield for roleplaying reasons I guess? The Kind Wayfarer Flames of Devotion upgrade really shines if you are using two weapons unfortunately, since it procs the heal on both weapon hits. If you are dead set on shields, you can use Tuotilo's Palm with monastic training to not cut your subclass effectiveness in half. Unfortunately other bashing shields' damage doesn't scale at all. I'd probably want higher might on a wayfarer too for better healing done, but you can only really cut from resolve. Your deflection won't be any good on POTD.

I just posted my Kind Wayfarer Inquisitor, but that's dual wielding as well. It is not doing any casting but the healing is really really noteworthy.

[Tanky Inquisitor POTD build]

6 hours ago, Boeroer said:

I only mentioned WoEP because I think it's one of the most enjoyable weapons with a Steel Garrote which makes it worthwhile compared to a Kind Wayfarer with a dual wieding setup.

If you count Estocs as well then there are several good two handed swords. Engoliero do Espirs is extremely powerful with Blade Feast because it procs on any kill (not just weapon kill). Voidwheel is very good in general, Twin Eels is great if you can kill-steal a lot (any kill works), Effort has Hemorrhaging which procs from any crit you do (not just weapon crits) which in turn counts as weapon attack (you can do some wild things with this), Blade of the Endless Paths is also very good.

The modal of Great Swords is not so great compare to other modals - but it can be worthwhile when you fight enemies with low defenses and/or gain some extra ACC to compensate for the modal's loss. For example a Paladin using Flames of Devotion and Ring of Focused Flames gains +20 accuracy for the FoD strike - which more than offsets the modal and grants you +30% damage. That's nice in combination with the multiplicative lash damage of FoD.  

 

Estocs just don't give me the same executioner vibe that great swords do, and also single damage type, but I agree they are nice. It feels like two handers really got short end of the stick in Deadfire, feels like there are more unique sabres than two handers all together. Obviously I'm exaggerating, but there is no true standout two hander to me before Chromoprismatic (and that's a staff... not really what I'm usually going for). Nothing like Tidefall in the prequel for example, that comes early and stays relevant till the very end. Barely any pikes, only Ngati's Tusk usable, and it comes super late. Only decent poleaxe caps out at superb. And greatswords... well, WOTEP is very niche use, there is no way in hell Effort is working as intended, Burden is unfortunately useless. Twin Eels and Sanguine Great Sword are okay I guess, but nothing to write home about, and they are still punished by the modal, if you want to use it. Voidwheel feels like it may be worked with but it's no walk in the park to get to begin with. Karabörü is at least there for the taking from the getgo. Rest don't even worth mentioning. On the other hand there are countless amazing one handers (which is cool), many many crazy combos, full attack synergies and so on. Kinda bummed out about it, because in other games, I'm a two handed hammer/axe/great sword guy haha

Morning Stars at least have amazing utility and great dual damage type, but again, super limited choices (only 2 uniques pop to my head).

Maybe I'm gonna try my hands at Amra/Oathbreaker's End, but they too feel subpar compared to dual wielding. I actually started a devoted/shattered pillar build a while back with Amra, but it didn't feel very engaging to play, and was also a bit squishy (nothing that Unyielding won't fix later on I guess...)

[Skald/Tactician build idea and questions]

Just now, Boeroer said:

Skald can only get 1 phrase back from an action. Afaik the number of enemies hit isn't relevant. I know of no way to generate more than 1 phrase per action. However, it is more likely to get 1 phrase back because multiple crits will each have the 50% chance to do so.

With Charge I think you get no phrase at all because it doesn't do weapon attack rolls. Skald only gets back phrases from melee weapon crits.

Tactician might get back more than 1 discipline - afaik here the actual number of interrupted abilities determines the outcome. 

By the way: Tactician doesn't gain 1 discipline when he simply lands an interrupting attack on an enemy. The enemy has to execute an ability/spell by the time the interrupt attack lands so that the ability/spell is really interrupted and lost. If that happens you get 1 discipline.  

 

So my idea of chaining paralyze and charge won't work indefinitely  kind of sad, but the build would still function I guess, just have to add something like chill fog or phantom foes and time everything so everything is under some CC effect.

[Skald/Tactician build idea and questions]

So, I have this build in mind for my next playthrough of a Warcaller that spams his stuff. I think most people focus on Brilliant Tactican when building Tacticians, and neglect the fact that you generate Discipline when you interrupt. I want to take advantage of both. Chanter provides energized for easy interrupts, and you can also spam Charge.

My sequence would be the following:

Click + Disciplined Strikes + Unbending (+ Vigorous Defense) With Bronlar's Phalanxed equipped with Tactician upgrade, then charge in, restore discipline. Switch to dual wield. Then use "At the Sound of His Voice" to paralyze, then charge, rinse repeat. Paralyzed helps you crit, so skald returns phrases faster, you get to use "At the sound of his voice" for 2 phrases only, and if you also have something like a Cipher or Wizard helping to get Brilliant, then you have even more resources to play with.

Can use club modal to lower will even further (Kapana Taga also synergizes nicely with Tactician). Can also use Sungrazer/Sun & Moon to lower reflex if I want to use invocations targeting reflex, like "Seven Nights She waited". Sungrazer as far as I understand also adds "Blunt Rock" effect to chants that can crit, lowering crush armor of foes in AOE (like "Long Night Drink", which both set up a morning star barb pretty well, that sets up fort attacks even further with morning star modal, at which point every defense is lowered so everything should land). Sun and Moon obviously helps your chances of getting back both discipline and phrases. There is also Sasha to play with empower and fill phrases for "Their Champion Braved The Hoard Alone". So lots and lots of choices, Arms Bearer and Giftbearer's Cloth are things I love to play with on my watcher, probably would be used here too.

Priority stats would be PER/DEX/INT with reasonable MIG, dumped RES and low CON.

Feels like it would be very engaging watcher to play, so I could set the rest of the party on AI for the most and still not get bored. Planning to take Edér and Tekehu with me, maybe Maia/Serrafen, then the mandatory hired Ascendant/Ghost Heart.

Now my questions is: can you get back multiple phrases/discipline with a single Charge that hits multiple enemies? I know that Skald only gets back a single phrase even on a full dual wield attack with Sun & Moon even if it tripple crits, but Charge hits multiple targets, so I'm unsure.

Is there any fault in my line of thinking?

[Tanky Inquisitor POTD build]

I don't use Wizard and Cleric. Extending buff durations feels so cheesy to me. Sad that I can't really create a great sword build that I'm happy with, WOTEP is not my style, and the modal makes them pretty bad, and there is no real lategame king great sword. I mean... I can create a GS build that's okay, but not one that wouldn't be better with other weapons. Maybe my knowledge is just limited.

[Tanky Inquisitor POTD build]

I actually made a Steel Garrote Trickster where I tried to do just that, but in my experience it exceled in the easy fights. I only took it to something like lvl 10-12, but I don't see it doing well against the real tough cookies, and then I'll just stand there with my maxed resolve, and probably lower might/dex.

I also tried a berserker/steel garrote that I never finished, but I might try something like that again, as if I understand correctly spirit frenzy + carnage + passive drain should all work together nicely. And paladin also gets int affliction resistance passive later on so I'm not locked into any kind of gear

[Tanky Inquisitor POTD build]

I always want to try Steel Garrote for the passive drain (either with Spirit Frenzy or Persistent Distraction), but it is quite hard to beat Kind Wayfarer healing with Steel Garrote

I guess Steel Garrote could use a shiny two hander and doesn't get his healing cut in half.

[I have some questions (item - ability interactions)]

I want to try my hands at some new builds for my next playthroug, as my usual, well tested Watcher + Herald + Seer trio began to feel boring, but I'm not sure how some interactions work. I also want to take only 1 hired adventurer now (plus Edér, Serrafen and Maia).

So here we go:

Kind Wayfarer FoD heal proc + Frostseeker + Driving Flight: do I get 6 heal procs around the user? If so, I found my new healbot

Helm of the White Void + Spirit Frenzy: do I get the +10 ACC on auto attacks this way?

Refreshing Defense + any kind of self dot: anyone know what works here? Seems like the raw DOT from berserker frenzy does not.

Carnage + stuff: are secondary targets affected by modal abilities? does the prone proc from Burden work on secondary targets? Basically, anything but Lord Darryn's Voulge has any good combo with carnage?

This is it for now, but I'm sure I'll come up with more questions after I sit in front of character creation screen for another few hours

[Tanky Inquisitor POTD build]

Just got back to Deadfire once again and I'm having a blast playing this build, so I figured I share its more important outlines. I'm sure I'm not the first to come up with something like this, but it worked amazingly well for me through the entire game. I hit 20 with it but haven't finished everything yet. Easily blasted through all the SSS fights and Memnok and stuff though.

Not sure if it can be played solo, as I don't really enjoy solo runs, did one just for the heck of it, but I prefer playing with a party, and using all the shinies I find. Definitely can't solo megabosses.

So the idea is that I want my watcher to do the heavy lifting when it comes to both dps and tanking, and that can prove to be difficult in many cases (especially since I like to use a hired Seer advanterurer in POTD playthroughs, that can be hard to compete with, once he gets his desintegrates going on top of already amazing damage output).

I also stay away from wizard, cleric and monk for the most part. I like the cassic melee combatant feel. No super cheesy interactions, potions, scrolls, no no rest strategy, nothing like that. That's part of making the game harder for myself

With these restrictions for my 4th POTD playthough, I came up with this:

Race: whatever you prefer, I went for mountain dwarf, but works with any race.

Stats: might/dex/per maxed, rest into con, int and res dumped (+2 all BB, +1 might blood sacrifice, +1 cauldron brew, +1 mig living lands, +1 gift of the machine), make sure to pick Iron Will up early from cipher to compensate for the terrible will save

Skills: I maxed Athletics and History, but pretty flexible, if you want to go an other rout.

Build defining gear:

main weapon set: Sun and Moon + Magran's favor

this combo nets +4 power level for FoD (during daytime), and also hits 3 times for the Kind Wayfarer heal proc, which makes most fights trivial. The heal AOE could benefit from higher int, but I always managed to get the heals off when needed. I like to use a herald healbot, so my main tank, the watcher and healbot usually fight in tight configuration and become pretty impenetrable while the rest of the party picks off casters.

I picked up arms bearer and use Giftbearer's Cloak, and I fully utilize all 4 weapon sets (actually I'd even like 5th haha), PEN is nothing crazy, so I keep all kinds of setups handy for the watcher, Modwyr, if INT affliction immunity is needed. I also picked up two handed style too, and I use The Willbreaker against high AR targets, so my Seer can land desintegration easier, thanks to morning star modal. Dragon's Dowry is kept in the inventory too, in case if I want to go ranged.

Ring: Ring of Focused Flame - super OP (no news there), it helps landing FOD, and also buffs the acc on the fire half of Sun and Moon auto attacks. I think frost half hits first, so unfortunately it does not help landing Soul Anihilation though, so keep that in mind. Neat little detail is Sun and Moon start to recharge your focus on the same hit you used Soul Anihilation

Boots: Rakhan Field Boots - while I wouldn't say that it's essential, I really loved these pair of boots as Inquisitors have no mobility skills like Leap or Charge and so on, and it really helps getting in range sometimes for emergency FOD heals. Bounding Boots can be used too, but these can be picked up pretty early on.

Rest of the gear is pretty standard, you can use whatever you like. Hard to beat stuff like Devil of Caroc Breastplate early game (I changed it to Contender's Armor later, mainly for aesthetic reasons, plus I tried quarterstaff devoted/berserker after I beat Memnok that need it). Haeven's Cacophony clicky can make some otherwise hard fights trivial (again, no news), even on dumped INT, but I don't like to rely on /rest actives.

Gameplay:

Position yourself where other party members are taking damage, and spam Sworn Rival + FoD + Soul Anihilation, pretty simple. I did pretty much 0 spellcasting. Picked up only Desintegrate and Ancestor's Memory for megaboss fights.

The amount of healing (and damage) this build can dish out honestly surprised me. For the first half of the game, I played with a party of 3 (hired Seer + Herald), and even when the herald got KOd (or even both hirelings), I did not have to reload most of the time, just used Evasive Rolls on my seer to benefit from the FOD heals.

 

 

[Dps-tank build]

Finished a complete POTD playthrough of the game with all DLCs on my Tactician/Soulblade and in the end, I decided to go with Herald for my next one. Does this look okay:

Race: Mountain Dwarf

Class: Herald (Goldpact/Troubadour)

Stats: MIG20//CON8//DEX2//PER15//INT14//RES19 (Aedyr) + 2 Berath's Blessings

Aimed for 20 int with 4 from necklace+helmet. May drop some RES for more INT/PER, I'd like to keep MIG maxed. Depends on how well would WOTEP do.

Gear:

Weapon Set 1: WOTEP

Weapon Set 2: Kapana Taga + Cadhu Scalth (random dagger/spear early game)

Armor: Patinated Plate early game Blackened Plate later, if I don't need the extra armor for the encounter, maybe Nomad's Brigandine

Helm: Heaven's Cacophony (Survivor's Tusks is a nice one too, but comes late)

Cloak: Greater Deflecion

Bracers: Greater Deflection

Boots: Boots of the White (idk...)

Belt: Undying Burden/The Maker's Own Power

Necklace: Charm of Bones

Rings: Ring of Greater Regen//Enonia's Signet Ring/Chameleon's Touch//Kuaru's Prize

Pet: idk yet, maybe the +2 Resolve one? open for suggestions

Blood Pool Sacrifice: Edér (does not feel right... well...)

Plan is to hand out Brand Enemy and use the two DOT chants + WOTEP retaliation against trash mobs and turtle up vs bosses.

I don't really want to solo, because I'm the kind of hoarder who likes to use his shinies, but there seem to be some benefits to soloing on this one. Probably gonna have a Ghost Heart/cipher,  as it is hands down my favorite build so far, so much utility with reliable damage output, it kept up really nicely in damage done to my Watcher last playthrough with single handed style and Ecca's Arcane Blaster (should have respecced to have Dragon's Dowry/Red Hand options, but I was lazy). Disintegrating low FORT casters all the time might have went a long way in the great overall damage done, I pretty much ignored casters with the rest of the party. I used a Shieldberer/Troubador herald last playthrough as a healbot (that inspired me to create this build for my Watcher for the next playthrough, as his only way of dealing damage was Brand Enemy, but it was really handy in the tougher fights), which I absolutely loved, so might go super lame and double up on heralds. The last 2 slots are up in the air, but I try to stay away from micro heavy characters and to some extent Priest/Wizard. I want to try a pure suicide barb with Twin Eels + Saint's War Armor + Vengeful defeat, shame that Survivor's Tusks won't bind to barb. Getting Sain't War Armor won't really be possible if I chose Edér as blood pool sacrifice...

[Some game mechanic questions]

Just now, thelee said:

1. I don't know. I would console it into a test game and give it a try. I ran it with a fighter/berath and it seemed to work for something like mule kick, but you can never be too certain (I believe in fact some other effects did not get the bonus).

2. indirectly - might impacts the damage you do, which increases the healing you get from steel garrote/old siec. unbending, on the other hand, is only affected by intellect (though with decent intellect and/or salvation of time and/or wall of draining, unbending can give you super healing).

3. i think @Boeroer tested it, and amra does give you the exgtra carnage, but it's much weaker than a bararian's actual carnage (which scales with PL).

4. if you have an existing frenzy in place, amra's frenzy won't stack - it's like another active effect. if you have spirit frenzy/blood frenzy/berserker, i think amra's frenzy will just fail to apply (in the combat log it might say "stronger effect already exists")

5. yes. even weapon modals get a boost from int

1.) I haven't used console yet, I guess it's easy enough to test though, I'll just roll up a tavern barb and try later. Would be a crazy strong combination.

2.) I was wondering about the potential double dip

3.) The instakill under 50hp is still pretty nice though.

Thanks for the answers

[Some game mechanic questions]

I have a few, and I'm sure I'll run into more so...

 

1.) Does Helm of the White Void provide the +10 accuracy bonus if I take Spirit Frenzy as a barbarian? (in theory it shoud...)

2.) Does Might/Healing Done affect Steel Garrote drain/Old Siec Would not rest/Unbending? 

3.) If I use Amra on a barbarian, do I get both the Carngae and Gore AOE damage? (I remember reading somewhere that they can't both apply on the same hit)

4.) If I become frenzied from an Amra proc, do I still get the benefits of Spirit Frenzy/Blood Frenzy/Berserker? (only relevant if the answer for 3.) is yes)

5.) Do afflictions from weapon procs such as Aamiina's Legacy/Patinated Plate get duration benefits from INT?