[Portraits V]

Thanks Could I trouble you with a another one, Master @LuccA? It'll be the last one, I promise

[[Build idea - needs feedback] Steel Garrote/Nalpazca]

1 hour ago, dgray62 said:

If you are going to use Sacred Immolation, Clarity of Agony is a must. You should proc it right after you proc Sacred Immolation. Doing so will dramatically reduce the number of raw damage tics that hit you, and could save your life, and also make Sacred Immolation more usable. 

My bad, I meant to ask Crucible of Suferring or Righteous Soul Although the latest version of the build has both.

[Portraits V]

Your watercolours are amazing Lucca Could you try with these two?

[[Companion Build] Afflicting Healegina Herald]

1 hour ago, Boeroer said:

Well, Sacred Immolation is quite good... the self damage is very high but with enough healing you can survive rel. easily (esp. if not tanking at the same time). Also it can run while you are casting an invocation at the same time which is cool action economy. Can't do that with more invocations. 

Maybe check out "Their Champion Braved the Horde alone". It gives you "energized" which will let you interrupt all enemies you land a crit against. This includes the pulses of Sacred Immolation which might crit enemies, offensive chants that may crit the enemy with every cycle and of course also your weapon attacks. It can be very good if you combine those things and disable enemies by simply landing crits/interrupts "on the fly" as secondary effect. 

Much obliged. I've also Dropped And Hel-Hyraf Crashed Upon The Shield and picked up The Lover Cried out to the Beloved, "I am Yours!" instead. Removed Righteous Soul and added Their Champion Braved The Horde Alone instead. Now she'll be able to use Estocs, Pollaxes and Blunderbusses with a few more afflictions to boot

I. HERALD ABILITIES

ACTIVES

1. The Thunder Rolled Like Waves on Black Seas

2. At the Sound of His Voice, the Killers Froze Stiff (...And Fear Followed Them Into the Foothills)

3. Reny Daret's Ghost Spake, "I'll Catch You, Ben Fidel" (Ben Fidel's Neck Was Exposed)  

4. The Lover Cried out to the Beloved, "I am Yours!"

5. Their Champion Braved The Horde Alone

6. Boil Their Flesh From Skin to Bone

PASSIVES

1. Come, Come Soft Winds of Death

2. Ancient Memory

3. The Long Night's Drink Birthed the Revenge of Morning

4. Old Siec Would Not Rest 'til His Hunger Was Sated

5. Mercy and Kindness Followed Where'er She Walked

III. PALADIN ABILITIES

ACTIVES

1. Sworn Enemy (Wrath of the Five Suns)

2. Flames of Devotion (Vielo Vidorio)

3. Lay Hands (No Upgrades)

4. Zealous Aura (Exalted Endurance)

5. Glorious Beacon (Inspired Beacon)

6. Sacred Immolation

PASSIVES

1. Arms Bearer

2. Deep Faith

3. Two-Handed Style

4. Scion of Flame

5. Practiced Healer

6. Virtous Triumph

[[Companion Build] Afflicting Healegina Herald]

28 minutes ago, Boeroer said:

One problem:

Blunderbuss + Estoc means you'll only have pierce weapon damage. Unless you plan to unlock another weapon set (like with Fleshmender or Arms Bearer where you could then put a Pollaxe or Morning Star for example) I'd recommend to use another setup that allows to switch between pierce and non-pierce damage. Else you would have to unequip/equip weapons before encounters - and you'd need metaknowledge in order to predict which foes will be pierce immune/highly resistant and which not. 

Mortars could be an alternative to "normal" blunderbusses because they do pierce/slash. Eccea's Arcane Blaster (pistol though) could be good. Or instead of Estocs pick Pollaxe, Great Sword or Morning Star.

Estocs have awesome PEN (and nice uniques) and you can circumvent their weakness with knowledge about upcoming enemies - but if you haven't that knowledge and then meet a bunch of Skeletal or even Risen dudes and can't do anything with your weapons it feels quite frustrating. Better be prepared for that.

If you want to be a debuffer also look at the Invocation "Ben Fidel's Neck was Exposed". The -10 defenses that comes with the frighten affliction (which is a lot more useful than in PoE1) stacks with other debuffs. Also there's no immunity to it which can be very good against some very affliction-resistant foes.   

 

Thanks! I'll pick up another weapon set then and use a Pollaxe as a tertiary weapon.

Would you skip the whole Sacred Immolation/Scion of the Flame for more Invocations? I'm thinking of that, because my main character will already be doing that.

[[Companion Build] Afflicting Healegina Herald]

This build was designed to be partnered with a Steel Garrote/Nalpazca (although it could be potentially useful to anyone who benefits from afflictions) and thus is focused more on afflictions than on buffing allies.

The plan is to have Pallegina do three things:

1) Heal allies;

2) Stack afflictions on the enemies;

3) Shoot things with dual Blunderbusses and then poke them with an Estoc (a stylistic choice, if you will

To that end I made the following choices (very much work in progress, mind you!):

I. HERALD ABILITIES

ACTIVES

1. The Thunder Rolled Like Waves on Black Seas

2. And Hel-Hyraf Crashed Crashed Upon The Shield

3. At The Sound of His Voice, The Killers Froze Stiff (...And Fear Followed Them Into the Foothills)

4. Boil the Flesh From Skin to Bone

PASSIVES

1. Come, Come Soft Winds of Death

2. Ancient Memory

3. The Long Night's Drink Birthed the Revenge of Morning

4. Old Siec Would Not Rest 'til His Hunger Was Sated

5. Mercy and Kindness Followed Where'er She Walked

III. PALADIN ABILITIES

ACTIVES

1. Sworn Enemy (Wrath of the Five Suns)

2. Flames of Devotion (Vielo Vidorio)

3. Lay Hands (Greater Lay Hands)

4. Zealous Aura (Exalted Endurance)

5. Glorious Beacon (Inspired Beacon)

6. Sacred Immolation

PASSIVES

1. Deep Faith

2. Two-Handed Style

3. Scion of Flame

4. Righteous Soul

5. Practiced Healer

6. Virtous Triumph

--------

I'm not sure about the whole Scion of Flame/Sacred Immolation angle, however, as my main character (Steel Garrote/Nalpazca) will be already doing that. Perhaps more Invocations would be a better idea, if only for variety's sake?

Feedback, as always, is much appreciated

[Making Aloth a skilled Rapier user]

1 hour ago, Boeroer said:

Go with Herald, Lay on Hands, Ancient Memory, Mercy and Kindness and Exalteded Endurance, Lethandria's Devotion, Sasha's Singing Scimitar, Physiker's Belt, Practiced Healer.

I'll try to work something out, I did plan to use an Estoc though, just for style points Maybe a bit of a hybrid striker/healer And afflictions, as she'll go with my Nalpazca/Steel Garrote - but I'll make a separate thread for that one!

[[Build idea - needs feedback] Steel Garrote/Nalpazca]

36 minutes ago, Boeroer said:

Enlightened Agony doesn't stack with Turning Wheel. However, it can make sure you won't drop below +5 INT (when under 5 wounds). But I wouldn't use an Ability Point for that given how easily a Nalpasca gains wounds.

Melee Monk with Enduring Dance would only make sense if you could make sure you wouldn't get hit much. Like if you were playing a ranged Monk - or if you were playing one with very high defenses but no tanking responsibilities or something like that. Or if you focused your build on Blade Turning. 

Soul Mirror makes most sense with high deflection. Imo it's pretty useful in solo runs but not that much in party runs (because in a party often it's not the Monk who attracts ranged fire in the first place). 

Brand Enemy is a neverending DoT ability which is cheap, very fast and most importantly an auto-hit(!). That makes it very useful in certain encounters. Sworn Rival is nice as well (especially for a Goldpact Knight who can get a refund for his +4 AR) but in parties limited Zeal isn't that big of a deal. It can be very powerful to inflict neverending burn damage to a whole bunch of enemies in a few seconds with 100% success. It can help you to ein encounters where you'd normally have a hard time hitting enemies and so on. 

Note that Brand Enemy is useless against Ironclads/Steelclads and other fire immune enemies and really counterproductive against certain enemies like Flame Nagas and Dorudugan (who heal from fire DMG). Against fire vulnerable enemies (hello Beast of Winter) it's great most of times. Reaching good PEN can make the difference between "meh" and "great" though. 

Sworn Rival is more like a no-fuzz "everyday usage" upgrade while Brand Enemy is more situational but can make a big difference in hard fights. 

Mortification otS: yes, overkill. I'd even say Lesser Wounds is overkill (if you use Hylea's Talons for gloves and later Sacred Immolation it's def. overkill at that point imo).

Resolve you go all-in (increasing defensive returns) or nothing imo. But it can really help with Sacred Immolation's self damage. On the other hand Monk has other tools to shorten the duration of hostile effects - like Clarity of Agony - and there are some items that help. So maybe I'd still tank RES to 3 if I wasn't to max it in the first place. 

I value Clarity oA over Righteous Soul since the first one always works while the second is situational - but on the other hand it's wound-driven active vs. passive so I would be torn. Also because RS completey nullifies all attacks that are tagged as poison/disease. So for example stuff like Plague of Insects or even direct damage like Noxious Burst wouldn't affect you at all iirc. I guess I would like to have both?

 

 

 

 

Thank you, good sir Combining your and @Kaylon's advice I propose something like this:

I. ATTRIBUTES

Might: 16

Constitution: 3

Dexterity: 13

Perception: 16

Intellect: 14

Resolve: 16

(That's without Berath's Blessing)

II. MONK ABILITIES

ACTIVES

1. Clarity of Agony (No Upgrades)

3. Swift Strikes (Swift Flurry)

3. Torment's Reach (Raised Torment)

4. Thunderous Blows

5. Duality of Mortal Presence (Turning Wheel)

6. Flagellant's Path

PASSIVES

1. Two-Handed Style

2. Rooting Pain

3. Crucible of Suffering

4. Heartbeat Drumming

5. Tough

III. PALADIN ABILITIES

ACTIVES

1. Sworn Enemy (Brand Enemy)

2. Flames of Devotion (Eternal Devotion)

3. Zealous Aura (Exalted Focus) - Pallegina will get Exalted Endurance.

4. Sacred Immolation

PASSIVES

1. Deep Faith

2. Inspiring Triumph

3. Scion of Flame

4. Righteous Soul

5. Virtuous Triumph

6. Stoic Steel

[Making Aloth a skilled Rapier user]

Thank you both! I think I'll try making a Pallegina healer build next

[[Build idea - needs feedback] Steel Garrote/Nalpazca]

56 minutes ago, Kaylon said:

Stoic Steel is very good. You should choose Swift Flurry at creation, skip Force of Anguish and pick Righteous Soul later. Also you should drop Improved Critical and pick Lesser Wounds instead.

1. And what about Enlightened Agony, with all those Wounds I could have it up at all times probably. Does it stack with Turning Wheel? Stacking Intellect seems like a good idea considering Garrote ability.

2. Which is better - Clarity of Agony or Righteous Soul?

3. Dance of Death isn't worth it even for the additional Wounds generation?

4. How low would you consider dropping Resolve for this build while still not making it a glass cannon (more of a off-tank secondary, primary damage dealer, that kind of a deal). Maybe I should also increase Constitution a bit, with 6 and no Tough I have 243 health at level 20.

5. The burn damage from Brand Enemy seems rather low, even with Scion of the Flame, wouldn't Sworn Rival still be better, considering those enemies will be falling a lot, letting me reapply it constantly?

6. Soul Mirror is only worth it if you're a tank, right?

7. Mortification of the Soul is probably overkill for this build I'm guessing

8. Lesser Wounds or Tough? That's connected to question 4.

Appreciate the help.

[[Build idea - needs feedback] Steel Garrote/Nalpazca]

1 hour ago, Kaylon said:

Stats are ok. Personally I would go with lower resolve and higher int/per. For a melee monk Enduring Dance isn't worth investing because it won't last very long and doesn't stack with Exalted Focus. I would pick also Enervating Blows in order to keep my target afflicted and be able to drain health. Uncanny Luck is pretty worthless, it's better to pick Tough to compensate the low Con. Rooting Pain is free AoE damage and since you will generate wounds like crazy you should also pick it. Inspired Defenses doesn't help if you aren't a tank. Scion of Flame is good only if you pick Sacred Immolation and Brand Enemy (which are by the way very good choices for a monk/paladin since the monk can remove the self damage from Sacred Immolation using Clarity of Agony).

Thanks

Here's how it looks after changes, how does it look? By the way, I assume that I don't really need the additional Wounds from the Enduring Dance then (or they don't stack with Nalpazca effect)? As for Tough, 2 health per level doesn't really seem that much... Also not sure whether I need Stoic Steel? I don't want this character to be a glass cannon, though...Could pick up Enervating Blows instead, as you suggested, but will I crit enough to make it worth it? I'd rather pick up another passive than either Skyward Kick or Dichotomous Soul, don't like their animations

I. ATTRIBUTES

Might: 16

Constitution: 6

Dexterity: 13

Perception: 14

Intellect: 14

Resolve: 14

(That's without Berath's Blessing)

II. MONK ABILITIES

ACTIVES

1. Force of Anguish (No Upgrades)

2. Clarity of Agony (No Upgrades)

3. Swift Strikes (Swift Flurry)

3. Torment's Reach (Raised Torment)

4. Thunderous Blows

5. Duality of Mortal Presence (Turning Wheel)

6. Flagellant's Path

PASSIVES

1. Two-Handed Style

2. Rooting Pain

3. Crucible of Suffering

4. Improved Critical

5. Heartbeat Drumming

III. PALADIN ABILITIES

ACTIVES

1. Sworn Enemy (Brand Enemy)

2. Flames of Devotion (Eternal Devotion)

3. Zealous Aura (Exalted Focus) - Pallegina will get Exalted Endurance.

4. Sacred Immolation

PASSIVES

1. Deep Faith

2. Inspiring Triumph

3. Scion of Flame

4. Virtuous Triumph

5. Stoic Steel

[Making Aloth a skilled Rapier user]

56 minutes ago, Boeroer said:

Since you wanted to build a good Rapier user in the first place I wouldn't spend many points on spells. Instead I would make a collection of useful grimoires so that I can cast most spells I want from those books and only pick a few spells that aren't covered by the grimoires - or which I want to always have access to. Then I'd put most points into passives and some fighter actives. 

If you wanted to stack crit chances you missed Disciplined Strikes' 25% hit to crit conversion (you took Tactical Barrage). DS would stack with Merciless Gaze and One-Handed Style (not additively but still very nice) and you can get Smart by using Infuse with Vital Essence instead (no +1 PL from Acute though). 

I personally would def. go with a small shield and pick weapon & shield style. The good thing about Battlemage is the ability to stack very high deflection numbers and since deflection has increasing returns you should substitute that with a shield. Also kind of stacks with the "no flanking malus" from Squid's Grasp.

The +12 ACC from one handed usage and -style are nice - but later in the game not as impactful as the added deflection. And you'll have plenty of conversion from Disciplined Strikes and Merciless Gaze anyway. 

Good fighter abilites that I would never skip as a Battlemage are Armored Grace (with Devil of Caroc Breastplate and a pet like Abraham you'll kind of have no recovery penalty but good AR and also +2 Discipline. Also looks rad on a fencer imo), Unbending, Refreshing Defense (it stacks with most of the Wizard's deflection buffs except Llengrath's Safeguard), Superior Deflection (if going for high deflection to start with) and such. 

Especially with Wall of Draining having Refreshing Defense and Unbending makes you almost unkillable (except one-shots) which is very powerful.

 

 

Thank you! I've made the following changes:

I. WIZARD

ACTIVES

1. Minoletta's Minor Missles

2. Wizard's Double

3. Spirit Shield

4. Arcane Veil

5. Merciless Gaze

6. Llengrath's Displaced Image

7. Deletrious Alacrity of Motion

8. Ironskin

9. Ryngrim's Enervating Terror

10. Wall of Draining

PASSIVES

None

II. FIGHTER

ACTIVES

1. Disciplined Barrage (Disciplined Strikes)

2. Penetrating Strike

3. Charge

4. Vigorous Defense (Refreshing Defense)

5. Unbending

6. Clear Out

7. Power Strike

PASSIVES

1. Weapon and Shield Style

2. Confident Aim

3. Superior Deflection

4. Uncanny Luck

5. Armored Grace

6. Improved Critical

7. Weapon Specialization (Weapon Mastery)

Does that look better?

1 hour ago, thelee said:

No deleterious alacrity?

 

i personally think some mobility will help, dependin gyour difficulty (enemies may make it hard to get into position for some of your offensive spells). bounding boots, the 4th tier teleportation spell [can't remember name], or charge for fighter would help.

there's also a unique spell in zandethus's spellbook (spindle man in delver's row has it) that's worth keeping an eye on for a melee build, because it provides two different 15% lashes and terrifies enemies that hit you.

Added in mobility - charge and Deletrious Alacrity, thanks I'll keep an eye out for that Grimoire for sure!

[Making Aloth a skilled Rapier user]

On 6/23/2021 at 3:28 PM, Boeroer said:

The unique Rapier Squid's Grasp has a nice enchantment that prevents getting flanked. Combined with Vigorous Defense and Wizard's buffs you can become very tanky. Becoming very tanky allows you to get threatened by multiple enemies without folding over which makes the other enchantment of Squid's Grasp accessible a lot more often: the 20% speed bonus (which stacks with stuff like Deleterious Alacrity etc.). Combined with Armored Grace and a pet like Abraham you can achieve good Rapier dps while being very sturdy. But you'll need some alternative weapon (or use spells) against pierce resistant/immune foes. 

So Battlemage would be my way to go - with Squid's Grasp at least.

If you are aiming for Rännig's Wrath it depends on the enchantments. For a Spellblade I would prefer the flanking DMG bonus + the PEN bonus on crit while for a Battlemage I would pick the 10% chance to skip recovery after getting missed (which works well with the small shield modal by the way).

For late(ish) game the Battlemage has better synergy since stuff like Vigorous Defense and Unbending can be prologed with Wall of Draining which will make you unkillable for a long time. 

 

With the help of the console I've tried to create a build for Battlemage Aloth, here's how it looks like after your suggestions:

Aloth will use a rapier and a mace as a secondary weapon and stacking crit passives (hence the One-Handed Style).

I. WIZARD

ACTIVES

1. Minoletta's Minor Missles

2. Fleet Feet

3. Spirit Shield

4. Arcane Veil

5. Infuse with Vital Essence

6. Llengrath's Displaced Image

7. Flame Shield

8. Ironskin

9. Ryngrim's Enervating Terror

10. Blast of Frost

11. Llengrath's Safeguard

12. Minoletta's Precisely Piercing Burst

13. Chain Lightning

14. Citizal's Martial Power

15. Wall of Draining

PASSIVES

None

II. FIGHTER

ACTIVES

1. Disciplined Barrage (Tactical Barrage)

2. Penetrating Strike

3. Vigorous Defense (Refreshing Defense)

PASSIVES

1. One-Handed Style

2. Weapon Specialization

3. Uncanny Luck

4. Improved Critical

 

How does that look? My worry is that I neglected offensive spells here...

[[Build idea - needs feedback] Steel Garrote/Nalpazca]

So I've tried making a test build for Nalpazca/Steel Garrote with the console commands.

Here's what I have right now:

I. ATTRIBUTES

Might: 16

Constitution: 6

Dexterity: 13

Perception: 13

Intellect: 13

Resolve: 16

All of these will be further increased by 2 due to Berath's Blessing. Not sure about such low Consititution, however. I want to keep 13 Intellect to allow me to pass 18 INT (rational) checks with the help of Ripple Sponge). Unless of course I can do it some other way...

II. MONK ABILITIES

ACTIVES

1. Swift Strikes (Swift Flurry)

2. Dance of Death (Enduring Dance)

3. Torment's Reach (Raised Torment)

4. Thunderous Blows

5. Duality of Mortal Presence (Turning Wheel)

6. Flagellant's Path

PASSIVES

1. Two-Handed Style

2. Soul Mirror

3. Crucible of Suffering

4. Heartbeat Drumming

III. PALADIN ABILITIES

ACTIVES

1. Sworn Enemy (Sworn Rival)

2. Flames of Devotion (Eternal Devotion)

3. Zealous Aura (Exalted Focus) - Pallegina will get Exalted Endurance.

PASSIVES

1. Deep Faith

2. Inspired Defences

3. Inspiring Triumph

4. Scion of Flame

5. Uncanny Luck

6. Virtuous Triumph

7. Improved Critical

8. Stoic Steel

 

With easy Wound generation Nalpazca grants, this build doesn't need to be hit and as such seems to have a nice synergy with Dance of Death, but it looks like it might be quite durable too.

As this is pretty much my first build, I'd definitely welcome any and all feedback Are there any ways to further improve synergy here, for example?

The weapon I'm aiming for is the Voidwheel, per @Kaylon's suggestion, with the hope that the Steel Garrote self-healing passive will help me overcome its drawbacks.

[Making Aloth a skilled Rapier user]

Thank you! I was indeed aiming for Rännig's Wrath, maybe with a buckler, like you suggest.

[Making Aloth a skilled Rapier user]

Looking at the forums, Aloth is typically built as pure Wizard. But what if you wanted to make him really good with a single rapier - would Battlemage or Spellblade suit him better then? I imagine the first one would make him able to wade into melee, while the other would focus more on the backstabs? I'd rather make him a Battlemage, but I'm curious what Deadfire veterans have to say about it

[[Build idea - needs feedback] Steel Garrote/Nalpazca]

6 hours ago, Kaylon said:

Steel Garrote/Nalpazca (or Helwalker) using Voidwheel is a great combo (AoE damage dealer/CC) because he can spam Torment's Reach/Raised Torment at leisure.

Sounds interesting! It would seem the best way to do it would be grab the surviviability talents to go along with it from Monk and Paladin, add some offensive ones from the Monk side too.

[[Build idea - needs feedback] Steel Garrote/Nalpazca]

Thank you all I did see the Forbidden Fist but didn't like the dual wielding or the RP concept unfortunately.

[[Build idea - needs feedback] Steel Garrote/Nalpazca]

Having recently finished PoE1 with WM, I've been thinking about an interesting build for a Deadfire playthrough. The plan, from the beginning, was to empower Woedica and play as Steel Garrote paladin in Deadfire.

I always knew I'd multiclass as well, but I wasn't sure which class/subclass to pick - but since Zahua was in my party I started thinking about making it Nalpazca, both because I was his friend and also because the drugs ultimately helped my character deal with the experiences of the past. So that's the RP story, but I thought I'd ask your help in making it an actual functioning build (with PotD in mind, but not solo).

So far I'm thinking of something like this:

1. Weapons - Estoc & Arquebus, but that's more of a style choice, as that's what my character used in PoE1.

2. The plan - Primarily a damage dealer than can function as a secondary tank if need be.

3. Potential Synergy - It would seem that Monk tree has a lot of abilities that increase attack speed (which would in turn increase the healing from Steel Garrote passive - other characters in the party will provide afflictions). Both Monk and Paladin have a lot of durability abilities and talens, so that seems like a secondary consideration. But that's pretty skin dip, I'm sure there's something more interesting to construct here, but I lack the knowledge about Deadfire to make it, unfortunately.

4. Attributes - no idea here either. Looks like Intelligence for longer Garrote and Perception for high accuracy would be handy, though.

Any and all pointers would be much appreciated