[[5.0 Class Build] "Mercenary Captain" - Swashbuckler (Fighter/Rogue)]

15 minutes ago, Haplok said:

Yeah, Rapid Recovery is a strong upgrade for Constant Recovery.

Think I'd pick Knockdown over Fast Runner. An Interrupt move can be handy. Also sometimes it is better to target Fortitude over Deflection.

Doesn't Crippling Strike interrupt on hit?

[[5.0 Class Build] "Mercenary Captain" - Swashbuckler (Fighter/Rogue)]

6 minutes ago, Haplok said:

Yeah, base Crippling Strike is good enough. It accumulates a lot of Power Level bonuses and remains useful throughout the game.

Confounding Blind could be nice to up the crit chance. Then again, it is a bit costly and in turn-based just how many single hits are you gonna land on a single enemy.

Determination could be taken instead of Arterial.

Rapid Recovery on 2nd thought, might not be as great in Turn-Based (not sure).

 

Thanks.

As far as I can see, I could not even pick Blinding Strike without wasting a skill point, because if I skip Crippling Strike, there is nothing else to pick before level 4. Fast Runner is already something I picked because there is nothing else.

Constant Recovery is actually really good in Turn Based, at the start of my turns I often get a good chunk of health back. That might mean Rapid Recovery is good, too?

[[5.0 Class Build] "Mercenary Captain" - Swashbuckler (Fighter/Rogue)]

2 hours ago, Haplok said:

IMO you should really prioritize Unbending - get it ASAP at level 13, as its the biggest game-changer (unless you rely on Barring the Death's Door all the time).

The difference between being an offtank/flanker and charging head-first into enemy ranks.

I think I'd also take Rapid Recovery along the way. Determination is one of my favorite Fighter passive defense buffs.

Not sure Arterial Strike is actually needed in melee - will you run away from wounded enemies? Maybe not worth upgrading Crippling at all.

Thanks! I'll look into all of this. I'll definitely prioritize Unbending, then.

If Arterial is not good, what do you suggest should be the main damaging skill I spend Guile on? Should it be just the basic Crippling Strike? Or should I somehow fit in Confounding Blind?

Where do you suggest I should fit Rapid Recovery and Determination, what do I replace?

[[5.0 Class Build] "Mercenary Captain" - Swashbuckler (Fighter/Rogue)]

Here is a build I am thinking about using for my MC in my next playthrough, on PotD difficulty with upscaling, Turn Based mode. I'd appreciate any constructive feedback!

I also want to turn this into a proper build, since there are so few 5.0 Turn Based builds out there. So, I'll be editing this post as I (hopefully) get feedback.

Fighter/Rogue (Swashbuckler)
Subclasses: Devoted/Streetfighter
Race: Human
Background: Aedyr, Mercenary
Weapon Proficiency: Greatsword (Alternative option: Morningstar)
Attributes: 18 Mig - 10 Con - 12 Dex - 18 Per - 12 Int - 8 Res
Skills: Mechanics, Insight
Role: Single target DPS, Off-tank

Level ups:
1: Disciplined Barrage, Escape
2: Crippling Strike
3: Fast Runner
4: Fighter Stances, Two-Handed Style
5: Confident Aim
6: Determination
7: Disciplined Strikes, Dirty Fighting
8: Penetrating Strike
9: Riposte
10: Weapon Specialization, Persistent Distraction
11: Adept Evasion
12: Finishing Blow
13: Unbending, Deep Wounds
14: Conquerer Stance
15: Devastating Blow
16: Armored Grace, Improved Critical
17: Clear Out
18: Uncanny Luck
19: Unbending Trunk, Deathblows
20: Unbreakable

Gear:
Head: Helm of the Falcon
Neck: Precognition
Armor: Reckless Brigandine or Devil of Caroc Breastplate
Feet: Boots of the Stone
Cape: Mirrorback
Hands: Gatecrashers
Waist: The Undying Burden
Rings: Voidward, Chameleon's Touch
Weapon: Karabörü or Sanguine Great Sword
Alternatively: The Willbreaker - if chose Morningstar proficiency

 

Some aspects I'd especially like feedback on:

- I personally won't use Reckless Brigandine, so I'll only have 1 engagement. Is that enough? Is there any way to improve that which is also worth it, like getting Hold the Line in place of something else? Any gear besides the armor that adds engagement?

- I upgraded to Arterial Strike, because of Persistent Distraction already causing Distracted. Also, a ranged Scout will already have Debilitating Strike in my party. Should I keep Arterial, or Debilitating is still better in this case, too?

- I added a Morningstar as an option to pick, as I know it is a better choice than Greatswords overall because of its great modal. I'll still use Greatswords though. Will it be fine on PotD difficulty? 

- I'll also have Edér as a Swashbuckler main tank, club+shield, in my party at all times. Two Swashbucklers are fine, right? It's not like I lose anything if I still have e.g. a Scout, Herald and Battlemage in the party?

Thank you in advance if you comment!

[[Class Build] Please reccomend a ranged-sustained dps-martial-crit build.]

I just posted mine a few days ago to ask for help with it, but it is mostly done with the help of this forum. Maybe you are interested?

Of course the Arquebus could be switched to a Warbow if you prefer that, and if you are playing Real Time With Pause, No Subclass Rogue could be switched to Assassin.

The Ranger's subclass is not Sharpshooter, but Ghost Heart. But having a ghost wolf is very useful, because there is no penalty if it gets killed. Also, it is kinda cool 

[[5.0 Class Build] "Ghost Sniper" - Scout (Rogue/Ranger)]

1 minute ago, thelee said:

predator's sense is a great pick, i would combine with deep wounds on rogue so you basically have 100% uptime on having a DoT for your ghost to decimate foes with. vicious is also a good pick. and you're right, you don't need to worry about survivability. you could be a caster-slaying machine - start attacking a wizard/priest/druid in the back (using concussive tranquilizer to wipe out any buffs) and send in your ghost wolf as a dive bomb attack to attack them at +2 PEN/+65% damage

Sounds great! So, with this, the abilities look good to me. I am confident in the attributes and weapon choices, too. 

What could be improved is the rest of the gear, especially the rings, waist and maybe hands. Any good upgrades?

[[5.0 Class Build] "Ghost Sniper" - Scout (Rogue/Ranger)]

3 minutes ago, thelee said:

concussive damage does less damage (far less, if you are dual-wielding ranged weapons). however, the damage on wounding shot tends to be so low that i would generally much rather spend the 1 bond interrupting someone (and stripping them of any buffs) than doing like a few bits of extra damage. (iirc wounding shot is an applyovertime effect, which means instead of doing 20% per tick--which might be competent--it does a fraction of that, more like 10% per tick)

I see. So if I'm not blinding or hobbling with Rogue skills or interrupting with Concussive Tranq., would auto attacking be good enough? Oh and also, are Vicious Companion and Predator's Sense good replacements for the freed up ability points?

[[5.0 Class Build] "Mandragora" - Psyblade (Fighter/Cipher)]

1 minute ago, thelee said:

disintegration is raw damage so you don't have to worry about it at all.

i would suggest only getting penetrating visions if you have more than a couple (non-raw) damaging powers. cipher also tends to have higher PEN on their spells so they are a little less negatively impacted by AR.

I see. Anything else you would change, then? Skills, attributes, gear, or anything?

For example, is there some accessory that gives engagement and would be worth using, so I can replace the Hold the Line skill? I insist on having at least one engagement. I do not want Reckless Brigandine though, and since the build is a Greatsword Devoted, I can't use shields for that either.

[[5.0 Class Build] "Mandragora" - Psyblade (Fighter/Cipher)]

10 minutes ago, thelee said:

i highly recommend picking up some higher level cipher powers. between conqueror stance and disciplined barrage, your accuracy is going to be so decent that disintegration might be an extremely awesome pick, even on higher difficulties with no morningstar support.

 

weapon mastery is also such an extremely small bump in damage, that i might recommend picking something else, from either fighter or cipher. i've only really ever picked weapon mastery as a single-class fighter when i've exhausted all the better picks.

 

as an extremely late-game weapon pick, might want to take a look at sanguine great sword (i forget its specific name). you have disciplined barrage for extra crit chance and it'll give you lots of sustain as a result. i've never given it a shot before my most recent run (as a weapon it's totally out of the way and unobvious) but even on an utterly unoptimized build it was not bad. (and if memory serves, i think i was suprised by thisty blade or parched blade weapon upgrade helping spells as well, someone might want to double-check)

Thanks! I edited the post.

I removed Weapon Mastery, put Disintegration to lvl 18 and pushed Greater Focus to lvl 20. Also added the sword to the gear options and I'll try to find it in-game.

Since I am now using a few damaging Cipher spells, do I need Penetrating Visions or Lingering Echoes?

Anything else to improve? Probably a lot still, so I appreciate further suggestions.

[[5.0 Class Build] "Ghost Sniper" - Scout (Rogue/Ranger)]

Just now, thelee said:

IMO wounding shot is a bit of a trap pick. The total damage is so low that i'd much rather pick something else and use that for the 1 bond, like concussive tranquilizier (which you get). have you considered some pet talents (even though you're ghost heart you can make your pet rather annoying to enemies and helpful to you).

Does Concussive Tranquilizer do about the same damage for the same cost, while interrupting? I only used it to interrupt and never really compared the damage. Well, then it makes sense that I'll use that to damage, too.

I can put the 2 freed up points to pet talents, which ones do you recommend? I am thinking Vicious Companion and Predator's Sense maybe. I don't see the point in taking any of the survivability perks, since the ghost pet disappears anyway if it manages to survive.

[[5.0 Class Build] "Ghost Sniper" - Scout (Rogue/Ranger)]

Here is another build I am using in my current playthrough, as a custom companion.

Tested in Veteran difficulty with upscaling, in Turn Based mode. I'd like some constructive feedback on what I can improve. I want to turn this into a proper build, since there are so few 5.0 Turn Based builds out there.

 

Rogue/Ranger (Scout)
Subclasses: No Subclass Rogue/Ghost Heart
Race: Human
Background: Deadfire Archipelago, Hunter
Weapon Proficiency: Arquebus, War Bow, the rest does not matter
Attributes: 10 Mig - 10 Con - 19 Dex - 14 Per - 18 Int - 7 Res
Skills: Explosives, Survival

Level ups:

1: Marked Prey, Escape, Wolf Companion
2: Vicious Companion
3: Crippling Strike
4: Two-Handed Style, Blinding Strike
5: Marksman
6: Dirty Fighting
7: Marked for the Hunt, Confounding Blind
8: Finishing Blow
9: Predator's Sense
10: Concussive Shot, Debilitating Strike
11: Gunner
12: Bull's Will
13: Driving Flight, Deep Wounds
14: Devastating Blow
15: Uncanny Luck
16: Survival of the Fittest, Improved Critical
17: Concussive Tranquilizer
18: Evasive Roll
19: Evasive Fire, Deathblows
20: Tough

Gear:

Head: Acina's Tricorn
Neck: Precognition
Armor: Miscreant's Leathers
Feet: Boots of Speed
Cape: Cloak of Greater Protection or Ruata's Walking Cloak or Mirrorback
Hands: Gauntlets of Ogre Might
Waist: Upright Captain's Belt
Rings: Ring of the Marksman, Ring of Minor Protection
Pet: Cutthroat Cosmo
Weapon 1: Dragon's Dowry
Weapon 2: Saint Omaku's Mercy (only used when facing enemies immune to pierce dmg, scales with Survival skill)

 

I will edit this post as I (hopefully) get feedback and corrections. Thanks in advance!

[[5.0 Class Build] "Mandragora" - Psyblade (Fighter/Cipher)]

2 hours ago, Haplok said:

Don't see Unbending or any of its upgrades. It's one of the best Fighter abilities. 

Also no Clear Out for aoe damage and aoe Focus gain? 

 

And no Cipher powers? Wow. Not even Borrowed Instinct? Secret Horrors, Ectopsychic Echo?

Thanks for the feedback! I thought I had some idea what I was doing, seems I was wrong. But I'm glad to learn.

I edited the skills with the ones you mentioned in my post above, also retrained to try it out. Since I now have more skills to use Discipline on, I also ditched Penetrating Strike, since I won't have enough Discipline to always attack with that. I have Mule Kick now instead, which is just more useful, I think.

Is this better? 

Any thoughts on the gear, attributes. etc?

[[5.0 Class Build] "Mandragora" - Psyblade (Fighter/Cipher)]

I wanted to post the build I am using in my current playthrough. Tested in Veteran difficulty with upscaling, in Turn Based mode. I'd like some constructive feedback on what I can improve. I want to turn this into a proper build, since there are so few 5.0 Turn Based builds out there.

 

Fighter/Cipher (Psyblade)
Subclasses: Devoted/Soul Blade

Race, background, skills and even attributes I chose mostly for Roleplay and dialogue reasons. Could be more optimized, any suggestions for that I'd appreciate.

Race: Human
Background: The Living Lands, Explorer
Weapon Proficiency: Greatswords
Attributes: 18 Mig - 10 Con - 10 Dex - 18 Per - 14 Int - 8 Res
Skills: Mechanics, Insight

Level ups:

1: Disciplined Barrage, Valorous Echoes
2: Knock Down
3: Iron Will
4: Fighter Stances, Draining Whip
5: Two-Handed Style
6: Confident Aim
7: Disciplined Strikes, Hammering Thoughts
8: Secret Horrors
9: Mule Kick
10: Charge, Ectopsychic Echo
11: Hold the Line*
12: Weapon Specialization
13: Conquerer Stance, Borrowed Instinct
14: Armored Grace
15: Uncanny Luck
16: Unbending, Improved Critical
17: Clear Out
18: Disintegration
19: Unbending Trunk, Echoing Horror
20: Greater Focus

 *I really hate it when I rush an archer and the next round he just walks away from me because I have 0 engagement without Hold the Line.

Gear:
Head: Helm of the Falcon
Neck: Cipher's Shackle
Armor: Devil of Caroc Breastplate
Feet: Boots of the Stone
Cape: Mirrorback
Hands: Gatecrashers
Waist: The Undying Burden
Rings: Voidward, Chameleon's Touch
Weapon: Karabörü or Sanguine Great Sword

(I do not use Whispers of the Endless Paths. I hate it with boundless passion.)

 

I will edit this post as I (hopefully) get feedback and corrections. Thanks in advance!

[The Courier's Calling consequences]

Just now, xzar_monty said:

Ok. Then we just have a difference in temperament, here: for me, it's interesting to try something and see what happens, while it's not interesting to already know what's going to happen and then just go through the motions.

As I already said above, I already know the majority of the plot of this game, as I played it at release. In that save, I ****ed up nearly everything plot-wise. I just want the best outcome because of that.

[The Courier's Calling consequences]

55 minutes ago, xzar_monty said:

Why don't you go ahead and see what happens.

Because it's irreversible. I'll leave the quest unfinished.

[The Courier's Calling consequences]

Does really nobody know this?

[The Courier's Calling consequences]

6 hours ago, Belsirk said:

Ah no. That is still going to happen. But, now that you make the question. It's bizarre, who is still working for RDC at that point ?

Weird. But this means that my question is still not answered. I am looking for someone who knows for sure if I complete only half of Maia's quest, can half of the assassionation plot go ahead and appear in the ending, or is it tied together? Meaning, in my case, is it possible for the Vailian leader to die, while the Huana one never does?

[The Courier's Calling consequences]

Just now, Belsirk said:

On my opinion Maia's personal quest is super buggy.  I delivered all the missives but at the end I had to kill everyone at RDC   with her on my team, and she didn't even protest. On the final battle she was more than happy to kill his master Atsura without protesting. So... probably you don't need to worry too much. 

Thanks for the reply! Does that mean that if I destroy the RDC in the end, the assassination plots fail by default?

[The Courier's Calling consequences]

So I delivered one of the missives, in Port Maje. I also dealt with the stalker perfectly. But, I have now checked what that ultimately means (Clario gets assassinated).

My question is, if I never deliver the other missive and never finish the quest, will Clario still die?

Also, how exactly do I go about going against the Royal Deadfire Company, while making Maia realize that their methods are reprehensibe, for her to stay in my party?

I did play the game almost to completion when it first came out (I also abandoned that save), so not much is considered spoiler to me anymore. Now I just want to take the correct steps for the ending I want (best possible Vailian-sided ending).

Thanks in advance!

[Turnbased / realtime builds]

3 minutes ago, thelee said:

for a wood elf (adjust as necessary)

10 might/13 con/19 dex/10 per/18 int/7 resolve

then take deadfire archipelago as a background for an additional +1 dex

make sure to pick marked prey as your ranger skill, you absolutely cannot go wrong with it and you will never respec out of it. i would take escape as your rogue ability because the mobility will be very helpful in avoiding danger and getting into range and you can lean on other party members to help debuff early on. pick up blinding strike as your main rogue offensive skill later, you can upgrade it to confounding blind to utterly punish foes you are ganging up on.

for skills i would choose explosives. cinder bomb, sparkcrackers are easy to make and will help you debuff foes. at high skill levels, stun bombs are an amazing lifesaver. (there are also some nice gloves that give you free sparkcrackers to use per rest, and another set that boosts your explosives even further). the other bombs are plenty useful too. pick a passive skill that fits with your theme, and if you have no idea, pick religion for the synergy with saint omaku's mercy (a pretty decent war bow)

now, stop lurking on the forums and go play the game!

With this, I finally have everything sorted out. Thank you so much for the help! I'm off to play finally.

[Turnbased / realtime builds]

18 minutes ago, thelee said:

depending on your ranger build, if you want to be completely optimal, perception is actually not that important. rangers get so much bonus accuracy (+10 marked prey, +5 marksman, +10 stalker's link, possibly +10 survival of the fittest, up to +20 from hunter's claw/fang/beast's claw, all stacking with each other) that you're better off boosting other offensive stats (dex, might). but that sort of depends on how much micromanagement you're willing to invest in the character. hunter's claw requires metagaming and prep work (not a lot, but consistent amounts). stalker's link requires you to use your ghost pet effectively. but if you just do marked prey, marksman, and survival of the fittest, that's already +25 accuracy right there.

similarly, rogues get so much bonus damage that you're better off boosting one of the other offensive stats (dex, perception).

(the mathematical reason why you want to invest in other stats is for the same reason why if you want to maximize the area or volume of a quadrangle or cuboid, you draw a square or a cube. damage, accuracy, and dex are the three different "axes" of damage, so given a fixed total for all three to distribute, to maximize the "volume" (damage) they should all be as equivalent as possible (a stat "cube").)

that pretty much leaves dex as the king stat to invest in. intellect is always a good choice since you probably have lots of abilities you want to last longer (could also be very important for getting past rounding cutoffs in turn-based mode). you could sprinkle remaining points however much you want (might/dex gives you roughly linear returns so is always worth investing in). some con might be useful just so you can survive incidental spell hits or enemy rogues that like to escape to the backlines.

 

as for skills, it's really your call. marked prey is the only big one i suggest everyone get from a ranger. i like arterial strike for rogue (it is great for opening fights and kiting enemies with), but may not be as effective in turn-based mode. deathblows is extremely powerful so you want to make sure you have a diversity of debuffs to trigger it; perception debuffs count as two afflictions (flanked + the actual perception affliction itself) so blinding strike (+upgrades), or debilitating strike are good to have. ranger gets a few debuffs that are useful. (diversity of debuffs is handy if you run across perception resistent or perception immune foes and can no longer rely on a simple distracted (or any perception affliction for immune foes) to trigger deathblows)

edit: better than skills recommendations, i have two anti-recommendations. as i mentioned before, sap and shadowing step require a melee weapon for rogue, so you should probably avoid those. hunter's claw also requires a melee weapon for ranger, but it's so good when maxed out that i just equip two melee weapons for my ranger for a few fights to build it up before switching back to ranged.

I should have guessed there is no simple answer even to the simplest question. Now I have absolutely no idea how to distribute the attributes. Please tell me an example, I am tired of planning and just want to play the game.

[Turnbased / realtime builds]

1 minute ago, thelee said:

not bad, i would point out that to get the most out of kind wayfarer you'd have to be close to your party members because the aoe on wayfarer's flames of devotion healing is small. you'd also want to dual-wield ranged weapons to max it out (dual-wielding weapons and the spammability of flames of devotion means you could be be among the best healers in the game just by spamming it over and over as needed)

 

i think vanilla rogue is fine. trickster has a lot of abilities which tend to be more useful if you are closer to the enemy (mirror image, repulsive visage, displaced image) so if you're not going to get much mileage out of them (and they all compete in guile usage with normal abilities), you can still debuff and pummel foes without sacrificing some sneak attack damage. (and the ghost heart has their own set of abilities to help debuff enemies, espeically since you may not be relying on your pet ghost to do as much)

I think Rogue(No Sub)/Ranger(Ghost Heart) it is, then. With Arquebus, and maybe Warbow as backup against mobs that are immune to pierce?

While I can re-spec, attributes are irreversible, so how would you build that? My only guess is that I should max PER. Also, to have some idea what to do, which skills would be essential?

[Turnbased / realtime builds]

3 minutes ago, thelee said:

a sc chanter is extremely powerful, but you have to be OK with turning them into a summoner/sniper, which it sounds like you aren't keen on (avoiding ranger pets).

trickster, debonaire, and vanilla rogue work great for a chanter MC. streetfighter requires a lot of metagaming and i'm not sure they're nearly as good in turn-based mode. my current run is a mixed melee/ranged debonaire MC and absolutely wrecks in any fight involving kith. if you want to combo, chanter gets a charm invocation, which will let the debonaire land (mostly) free critical hits on lots of foes even when not fighting kith.

You are right, I don't want to summon anything, at least it's not what I have in mind for the custom adventurer. Hmm, well I think  it comes down to either Holy slayer or Scout.

For the Holy Slayer, would Kind Wayfarer work at all, as a sniper? And I am thinking Trickster.

For the Scout, Ghost Heart actually sounds like a solution I'd like. And I'd pair it with Trickster?

[Turnbased / realtime builds]

5 minutes ago, thelee said:

*lots of text*

Thanks, that is really helpful! Yes, Devoted+Soulblade is what I had in mind. I will stick to that, then. Fixed my main dilemma for the MC, thanks a lot!

 

Regarding the adventurer, a chanter seems like a good idea. What other class would you pair that with? Rogue? Also, since it will be ranged, would Trickster work better than Assassin if I don't want to rely on attacking from stealth? Since in turn based going back into stealth in combat either requires either an entire turn, or 3 guile with the upgraded skill...

I might stick with holy slayer since I wanted Pallegrina to have the chanter multiclass option. If i chose paladin/rogue, would kind wayfarer work?

I'll check the ranger option too. However, I find how monks work extremely unfun for me personally. I'll rule that out.

[Turnbased / realtime builds]

10 minutes ago, thelee said:

also you'll probably recruit more help if there's a specific build type you're going for - some theme, some class, etc. an open-ended question is just too overwhelming in possibilities.

Want to play turn based, veteran difficulty.

MC either Psyblade (would prefer this if it works) or Mindstalker. Using two-handed sword. Some people told me that Fighter/Cipher is not the best choice. Something about the Whispers two handed, but I don't care about that, I just want a build, I didn't ask about that sword at all, why complicate things further? Is that literally the only reason why it's not considered good? Just someone tell me if it will work or not.

Custom adventurer as Holy slayer, non-Bleak Walker for RP reasons. Using Arquebus, basically a sniper. Don't know if Steel Garrote would work, as the Garrote skill does not say its range at all. Any other sniper build I would welcome (except ranger, I don't want a pet).

I have been struggling for almost a week now to start a game, because I know I can't switch classes once I begin. I need directions as I am overwhelmed.