3mka

Hello Everyone! First time poster. Really love this game, hope we get a Pillars 3 but with recent news it doesn seem likely. Posting about my experiences and a party build here. Hope you like it. Mageslayer mentor and junior The single class mageslayer barbarian subclass was said to be among the weaker/ worse subclasses to use. And I saw that as a challenge to making a pretty powerful character and have a fun time playing the character. The biggest drawback seems to be the spell resist which can resist even beneficial spells ie healing and the inability to use even potions this makes healing + buffing is a problem. Without these or if it just toned it down i.e. you could still use poisons, scrolls and potions can also be used but have a failure rate, it would be better than vanilla barb. That said, its other gimmick and probably the main gimmick is is spell disruption: the stacking 25% interrupt debuff when the target tries to cast that applies per weapon hit. This can shut down all casting of a target altogether after four hits. The gameplay solution being to simply not to tank/ off-tank and do just anything else i.e. flanking, eliminating the squishies, etc. the resisted buffs isnt great but you can still make it work. The other solution is to use a paladin (either as party member or to multiclass with), none of their abilities are spells and they solve the inconsistent healing/buffing problem. Enter the mentor and junior concept. I liked the idea of an order of mageslayers who basically hunt down every spellcaster seeking to use their gifts to do harm. A bit like witchers but for evil mages. I also liked the idea of my watcher sc mageslayer finding his old mentor at a bar in the deadfire and getting his assistance for a particularly difficult quarry, hunting a god. Naturally since i needed a pally this guy would be a fanatic mageslayer/ wayfarer. The wayfarer because of that healing every use of flames of devotion (FOD) and also the wayfare kinda gives off that vibe associated with the one of the mission statements of the IRL knightly orders i.e. safeguard pilgrims/ travellers to the holy land. The party in the end became an all barb party with mentor and junior plus witch serafen, brute rekke, howler konstanten. It’s kinda funny to see the entire party rage at the start before getting to work. And each one can hit multiple opponents due to carnage. And this party set up was unexpectedly hardier and effective than any of the more traditionally balanced (fighter-mage-thief) party set ups I had. Also serafen and konstanten kinda do awesome crowd control and the fanatic heals everyone on every attack. The Slayer Mentor (fanatic) build The Mentor’s job is basically white flame of devotion (FOD) spam. Just healing while dps-ing. That said the constant healing also allows for better survivability and tanking than what the sc mageslayer would do. Also to take advantage of this he has dual wield as well. He can be used similarly to what his junior can do in early levels (flanking, see below) or he can off tank and even buff allies. He can work pretty well to shut down casters since dual wielded FOD will apply 2 stacks of spell disruption on first attacking, even 3 with the right weapon (s). RP wise, I liked the idea of a mageslayer/ wayfarer multiclass because of the idea of an old mageslayer going around hunting down mages who have become harmful to various communities or to travelers and adopted the Kind Wayfarer’s mandate. Adopting this dedication and fanaticism as well that it sustains him through his work. And in his old age begins training other mageslayers as this Vesemir type. Attributes The important attribute is perception just to be able to hit right so this should be maxed out as much as possible. Might is also kinda needed to be able to heal well and Dex for the attack speed. These should be at least above close to 15. Intellect isn’t that crucial but whatever mix is appropriate to extend the exhortations helps so above 10 too. Just a note I tend not to build characters with attributes that are less than 10. That said you could maybe dump resolve or con but I didn’t for RP reasons and because this guy has to do a bit of tanking. Skills Prioritized Athletics and explosives. Because they are mageslayers, these two skills are probably the only sources of healing you have available outside of abilities. With bombs it's the unstable soul essence bombs. Talents The important ones: Flames of Devotion (shared flames, white flame), Two weapon fighting, Blood Frenzy, Blood lust, Blood thirst, Rams sprint, Greater lay on hands, zealous aura (exalted Focus) Basically I was building to take advantage of the attack speed buffs that the Barb can bring and supplementing it with damage from the FOD with the Two weapon fighting, Frenzy, sprint, bloodlust & blood thirst. I had built him as support for the Junior mageslayer so greater lay on hands and exhortations and the aura were kinda important too especially zealous exhortation. On an amusing note, I had named the mentor as Blarg the Radiant Wrath so while I did not list it, I did give him inspired Beacon and sacred immolation but I had not used it at all. FOD spam was too good. Gear Body: Devil of Caroc Breastplate, Head: Pearlescent Helstone, ring 1: ring of focused flame, ring 2: Voidward, Boots: Boots of the stone Belt: Trollhide belt, Cloak: Cloak of greater deflection, Gloves: Boltcatchers, Weapons: Set 1 (all melee) Magrans favor, Ball and Chain, last word, set 2 (ranged and melee) Ball and Chain and eye of wael/ currents rush. The gear is basically mostly just fashion particularly the breastplate although admittedly it is the best one in the game and the - recovery it gives helps. The helstone head gear is actually mostly fashion. The others are just nice to have but in particular ring of focused flame helps all the FODs to hit, and trollhide belt helps him stay in the fight longer. Voidward is there because I planned for him to use Sacred immolation more often. Magrans favor also helps the FOD, ball and chain gives a source of interrupt so that at higher levels he can help lock down a boss. Prior to getting these two since you get them at the start, exceptional axes, flails, swords are ok. A ranged alternative to attacking is actually great for this character and I usually have a good unique scepter on him and eventually settled on current’s rush. Having a mainhand scepter lets him hit his offhand weapon more often and with ball and chain as the offhand increases likelihood of knockdowns. SC mageslayer (Junior mageslayer) The Junior mageslayer would be my watcher and I wanted to explore the single class mageslayer through him as the main guy and focus character. I RPed him as this rogue-ish Han Solo type and he happens to be really aggressive when it comes to hunting evil mages and his mentor being kind, strict yet slightly stoic who helps him rein himself in. This dedicated aggression to slaying evil mages leads him to fully dedicate himself to that as a full mageslayer. While he is not super intelligent, he is quick witted and quick on his feet but his aggressiveness can lead him into trouble both in battle and just in general. Obviously, he is in over his head with a god and needs help. For the single class mageslayer there were 3 distinct phases for how I played him, 1 squishy flanker/ assassin -> 2 - > Blade bomb 3 - > Thu’um Cannon. The junior slayer is a 2 handed weapon user which I find works best with bloodthirst as he takes better advantage of that than his dual wielding mentor. Attributes When I built him the stat spread was kinda all over the place with nothing maximized and all stats hovering near 15 except for resolve. But if I had to do it again, maximize Perception and maybe at least 12-15 on might and dex same with the Mentor character. Maybe prioritizing dex over might. Skills Same with the mentor, athletics and explosives and for the passive skills just pick whatever fits your personal backstory for them. For me it was survival and intimidate. Talents The important ones: Blood Storm, Lion’s Sprint, panther’s leap, Heart of fury, Driving Roar, Blood lust, Blood thirst, Blood surge, uncanny luck, Interrupting blows. For the most part these are the most important talents with all the others being optional because the point of the character is basically to flank, attack and do damage to multiple enemies. All the important passives in effect help increase the attack speed alongside frenzy. Getting crits is also important because of Effort greatsword and of course crit damage is always good. A note on interrupting blows its probably the only skill he has that would keep him relevant against some of the bosses but not all that necessary. Gear Body: Miscreants leather or Gipon Prudensco or Nomad’s Brigandine, Head: Helm of the Falcon or heaven’s cacophony or Helm of the white void, ring 1: Ring of prosperity’s fortune, ring 2: Ring of Greater Regeneration, Boots: Boots of the stone or boots of speed Belts: Upright Captains Belt, Cloaks: Ajaamut’s Stalking Cloak, Gloves: Hylea’s Talon, Pet: Cajux or Abraham Weapons: Set 1 Effort, Set 2: Willbreaker, Set 3 (using talent) : Whispers of the Endless Path or any crossbow/ scourge of Bezzello. So the different options for the armor is basically for action speeds sake for miscreants leather or to be able to flank in the case of Nomad’s brigandine or Gipon Prudensco. Ring of prosperity’s fortune is for crits which are important for the build. Hylea’s talon lets you exploit the crits. Regen ring for the survivability. As for the different options for headgear, helm of the falcon is great for early game since it lets attacks go out faster. Heavens cacophony and helm of the white void are good for damage or accuracy in late game particularly with driving roar. The stalking cloak is there mostly for perception. I did not build this guy for stealth. The Effort great sword, is there for Driving roar shenanigans. The hemorrhaging upgrade allows on crit application of the sickened effect on spells and abilities not just weapon attacks. Also the sickened effect is counted as a weapon melee attack and applies spell disruption. This essentially lets you use driving roar to apply spell disruption. Heaven’s cacophony lets you then cast avenging storm to be able to apply lightning damage to everytime hemorrhaging procs. There are probably whole threads about Effort shenanigans here and even a few on interaction with Barbarian abilities in particular. The other one or two weapon sets are just nice to have depending on the enemy. Whispers of the endless path was very useful before I got Effort and the crossbow/ Scourge of Bezzello is something that is needed for some bosses. For his three phases: 1 Flanker/ assassin Someone else tanks while you run down priority targets in the usual order ie casters/ healers -> rogues -> tanks. If you can get them clumped together then all the better because of carnage. If no casters then just flank the whole formation who hopefully clumped up on your tank (s). So basically you’re a rogue who can hit multiple targets and hits faster but not as hard as an actual rogue and can shut down mages as a special talent. Wild sprint and the eventual lion’s sprint becomes pretty important for this as that lets you get to the rear faster. And once you get bloodthirst you can chain attacks off of killing near death enemies to maybe kill the next guy with two attacks then move on to the next and so on. 2 Blade bomb You’re not too dissimilar from your flanker phase but I separated this out because of Panther’s leap and heart of fury which can lead to outright killing up to 80% of an encounter on your first few moves. If you can leap on their casters and the rest of the encounter then converges on you then this ‘ll work great. I will note that this was actually probably the peak with this character concept of outflanking a whole clump of enemies and assassinating casters. Its just that you can also explode a lot of other enemies as well. After this phase, things work very differently for the character. 3 Thu’um Cannon The game really changes here. You can trivialize encounters with multiple enemies with driving roar. Ship encounters become loot pinatas at this point. I have never had an easier time with Splintered Reef or even the Nemnok encounter, Frightened Child has reason to be afraid. And with Effort greatsword shenanigans boss type casters get shut down too. The rest of the party is just there to hold the enemy momentarily or to clean up. Special note on Splintered reef, the last encounter with Menzzago, turning him and his coterie to paste and smearing them on one of the walls is such a special feeling. That said, there are several bosses including all but one megaboss and the final boss that you cant just Fusrohda to death. For these encounters you may need to adopt different tactics and the rest of the party becomes crucial again. So for special mention here they are and how this party beat them: Fire Dragon and Undead Dragon With both of these encounters Driving roar still kinda works as like the barbarian version of the fighter’s knockdown ability. The fire dragon being easier to deal with even though the fanatic FOD is less than effective. You just need to surround and use every ability and consumable thats appropriate and keep hitting her. Interrupts are important so driving roar remains important. The dracolich is a different story. First off the spellcasting she has are abilities not spells, which sucks for mageslayers, spell disruption does not work. She becomes near unhittable when she does her llengraths safeguard and cloak of darkness is a pain so interrupts are still crucial. Fortunately driving roar can again, be an impromptu interrupt along with all other interrupt abilities that are available at this point and the fanatic mentor and serafen can serve as the dps. I also used bombs as interrupts and to apply damage when I could. Auranic Just used the method outlined in deadfire almanac guide for this. The mageslayers are kinda extremely vulnerable in this fight since they cant use potions particularly the spell reflect potions. Stacking some hp, regen and elemental resist gear might help though. I think it was a matter of luck and save scumming for me here actually since with enough bad rolls on the sigil of wrath will force a reload. Ironically, the mageslayers had trouble with the mage. Hauani o whe I hate this boss but at least I have a gameplan for them. To complete this I had to completely retool how the squad operates. Dropped Serafen for Ydwin (mindstalker) for more accurate disintegrates. Ydwin becomes crucial for megabosses for their many talents. By this point I had scourge of bezello and a superb arbalest and some -reload speed gear. These went on the mageslayer and konstanten respectively. So two ranged interrupts timed to interrupt the worst attacks while the rest of the party melees it. When near death, apply club modal ->psycho vampiric shield-> borrowed instinct-> either shining beacon via scroll or spell or ben fidels neck was exposed -> any con and strength affliction + morningstar modal then empowered disintegrate. Hopefully it lands at the right time and with enough duration to destroy hauani. If not you still have two interrupters for the next phase. And it’s easier to land the disintegrate then. Dorudugan This is probably the one boss that I cant seem to get past without cheesing it. He just takes way too long to kill. I initially thought the whisper great sword plus disengagement immunity gear would work but the endurance test wasnt worth it. Ydwin with gouging strike then hiding and going afk did the trick. I didnt do the brilliant + bdd + SOT thing at this point, i didnt have a priest ready. Belranga For the mageslayer or any SC barb, probably the most fun boss. Not much needed changing from how Barb squad operates normally. Some preparation would be needed with shark soup or shark meat so the party does not get petrified. For the fight itself, the crystal spider/ spiderling spawns are essentially fuel for driving roar and summons will be there to distract belranga while the spawns are all killed. I had built Konstanten as a howler so I had him summoning Distraction Ogres. This was all done while taking down spawn points at just the right time so that all spawns were coming from 1 direction only. And then when she can actually get hit by driving roar and the rest of the squads melee, it would be time to wrap things up and shut down the rest of the spawn points that can be easily reached and then on to Belranga. At that point we drop her concentration with chanter thick grew their tongues or cipher echoing shield and just interrupt and kill. Final Megaboss Guardian of Ukaizo This boss actually gets very difficult to handle with the usual gear and I had to change to ranged interrupt party similar to that used with Hauani o whe. Driving roar is also used as additional source of interrupts. The first phase is probably where you get most use of the driving roar ability. He has to be stunlocked with interrupts until he gets to the second phase and has to be handled similarly until the last phase until he is defeated. For the intermission between first and second phase, charming one Engwithan titan with serafen while focusing the other down helps. And If you’re lucky you can have the charmed titan get focused by the Guardian. That said it doesn’t always happen, the charm clock seems to run down while we are dealing with the Guardian so its probably best to kill the other titan too while distraction summons are engaging the guardian. Overall, its probably better to distract the Guardian with summons while eliminating the adds so that also includes the Engwithan saints in the third phase. This fight kinda doesn’t use the fun stuff that my mageslayer(s) can do and that seems to be the case for most of the megabosses except Belranga. To that’s the Mageslayer party hope you can use it as tips or inspiration for a run. Overall it was fun. The levels before the last two were a good tactical challenge and level 19 and 20 just gave you a good feeling of being overwhelmingly powerful.

I would like to add one thing about human Anjali. Her Empowered standard attack with the staff can do a lot of damage. It basically has to hit once then it'll do this multihit combo thing. On the PC you have to hit shift+Lclick once then Lclick 2 more times. You can cancel the attack combo if you stop clicking. The only disadvantage is that she's vulnerable while doing it but I find it really useful for Rajani and the last boss.

1. Will you be able to improve documentation for some of the stats particularly the chaos stats since its somewhat unclear? And why we should go with 1 chaos damage stat over another. Am also curious about whether some damage stats stack over the others. Hopefully even updating the in-game help screen. 2. What influenced the decision to make the game go towards being more of a beat em up rather than a straight RTWP style RPG? I read somewhere that for a good action RPG you have to take solid action game mechanics and wrap it in an RPG exterior. Is this the case with this title? Essentially underlining and showcasing the ACTION in ARPG? 3. Did this do well enough to justify a sequel and DLCs? Slightly related to this, was creating the entire game on this engine relatively quick and not requiring too many resources (compared to other engines you've worked with)? If so how do you feel about making free (quest) DLCs?

Just to clarify... No you can not get hit while in the air during vanguard strike.

Blade Dash Retains its usefulness since you can evolve it to do more damage to bleeding enemies. Enemies that Bleed because of something like say... windshear. Vanguard Strike does leave you invulnerable while in the air. It's probably best to evolve it to give back focus for every kill that way it then becomes spammy. Earth Rending seems to work best when empowered actually (only 1 orb). Admittedly it comes out way too slow. I get the most use out of it against the fire aura'ed Azunites. Armor works great with blocking actually. Blocking refills powerorbs faster than ability use. There's a thread in builds and strats that talks about an Anjali build on hardcore that relies on blocking rather than dodging. I tried it out and its very viable except for maybe 1 boss in the middle of the game who seems to use only unblockables and the some of the last bosses with their many-many adds, in these situations I instinctively dodge.

I think most determined weapons raise will and attack although the latter not by much. There's a unique weapon near the end, the orbis bellum which raises all of Rheinhart's major offensive stats (will, attack, agility) but that's somewhere near the end. Rheinhart has a talent which up to 50% of his agility can go to his ability DPS. You can try finding Fierce x of quickness or Swift x of Rage clothing and armor items instead. Determined x of rage stuff might show up but I haven't seen it yet. Attack does go into ability DPS also but not by much I think. Will is really the stat which raises it. I don't think there will be a situation where you're direct damage abilities do less damage than your standard attack. In Rheinhart's case you should rely more on his abilities to do damage and just use his standard attack to refill his Focus. That being said you're free to concentrate on a Rheinhart that relies more on standard attack with situational use of his abilities. He does have abilities that are useful for more than just DPSing i.e. Mirror Manx distracts, slowdown by his clockwork trap or by GoA, companion (and self) healing by creative destruction, etc.

A bit of thread Necro here but... I tried using Manx with without using or with minimum use of GoA. The primary skills were mirror leap and lightning strike. I find the that for the most part you would need to be more active than with GOA. Mirror Manx can't kill everyone. However I noted that he was extremely useful in boss fights particularly those who enjoy throwing around unblockable projectiles. Mirror Manx tends to target the bosses first and will usually get in their faces thus occasionally blocking any projectile that they throw. If you maxed out his damage reflect it gets even better as now they're unblockables only damage themselves. This was really telling during the Maru-Yatum fight where after summoning Mirror Manx I watched huge chunks of his health disappearing once Mirror Manx was in his face. I previously had a difficult time against him in previous play throughs with Lucas and Katarina, Mirror Manx just trivializes him. Mirror Manx won't work on all bosses though, the third Jeyne Kassynder fight was especially difficult because of her teleport abilities and I relied more on timing my own teleports and throwing lightning strikes at her. Although Empowered Mirror Manx allowed me to get several free hits in at the start (which she will ignore later on). Mirror Manx was not as effective against the last boss either and I relied again on lightning strike. That's another thing actually, Empowered Mirror Leap is used very differently and serves as a great distraction since it attracts aggro from nearby enemies leaving you free to do whatever you want. (not all the time though, enemies will sometimes ignore it and I'm not sure how or why that happens) Another thing about this ability though is that I can't seem to reliably make Rheinhart Mirror Leap to where I want him to go. All in all its a pretty good combination of skills and Rheinhart doesn't really need GOA to be effective.

They do use empowered abilities particularly empowered defensive abilities. I've had Lucas give use his empowered 2nd and 3rd tier defensive abilities to give me a boost during one of the boss fights. They may use the empowered offensive abilities but I've only noticed the defensive ones.