Jojobobo

A build I really wanted to play was a tank based around Silverflash. Blinding enemies dramatically drops their accuracy making you more defensive, and I believe if you spec-ed just right you could get hits in to keep that effect going permanent. However, of course the gun is super late game pretty much - and there's no decent stop-gap build to fill that gap in the meantime. I too tested a Dangerous Implements Monk, but found I couldn't really maintain very many wounds, so I wouldn't recommend it. In terms of a class that might actually be able to get something out of a gun build, Chanter's have the reload speed chant so I think if you paired that with high movement speed Dragon Thrashed and kiting you might be able to get something workable out. My main concern is you can't make the reload speed chant linger over the entirety of Dragon Thrashed - so the reload speed would drop just before I was about to reload, which would make me sad. What annoys me about guns is that they are only useful pretty much as alpha strike weapons, apart from on a Ranger, and Ranger's do more damage with Twinned Arrows and Stormcaller. While I'm all for running a build because it looks cool and it's what you like, when you get that feeling it's so un-optimised compared to what you could be running it's a bit of a drag. DAoM Wizards may also be good, but again what's the point when you could be running an implement with blast. I guess a Cipher could do it (i.e. run three arquebus alpha strikes then a pistol on backup) but you really may as well have a different ranged weapon in that last slot in terms of DPS. And I get that historically these weapons wouldn't be fired a great deal of times so it's realistic, but currently we're in a situation where using a pistol is completely pointless - which is lame. I don't know, if I even think of a good gunner concept I'll definitely make a build up for it, but currently I can't see anything that good.

I think that, in terms of the whole per rest argument, things like the Stalwart Village encounter in WM part I did a good job - you literally couldn't rest, and so to an extent had to think carefully. While it might be nice to increase the cost of resting, peppering the narrative with these kind of encounters would also help.

Last time I checked, which was admittedly a while ago, it didn't work. Thanks for letting me know.

You can't enchant the Cladhaliath spear if you go proper solo, you don't have anyone to stand on the symbols Nor can you get the Blood Pool boosts, sadly. If I were you (and what I'm planning for my own solo Chanter), I'd go max Mig, Int and Res - the first two for heals and stronger Chanting effects due to AoE, the latter for just the Deflection bonus. You can dump Dex, you're hardly going to be a DPS machine. Per and Con can likely be base, though maybe run the numbers on Con to make sure you're comfortable with the health you're getting. I'd also take the Fear Phrase, as that effectively bumps your Deflection by 10. From there on I'd just go full defensive and use your Invocations for summons. Equipment choices - things like Cape of the Master Mystic (most Deflection in game) and Ring of Protection. I'd take full on defense talents, and also healing talents (Wound Binding, Veteran's Recovery) and Ancient Memory/Beloved Spirits (which I think was just patched to also affect the Chanter? Maybe those heals always did, I don't know). I've played this kind of tank with other classes, and it does work fine. I've never properly played a Chanter however, so I'm sure people will have much more in depth advice - but bottomline this tanky base works.

I've heard somewhere that if you attack one-handed you'll hit more often in a given time frame than with a particular weapon than you would with two weapons (as in you get less recovery per weapon, but when you consider you have to wait while the other weapon attacks for that first weapon to hit again - the rate of that weapon is on the whole slower). I've not tested it myself so it may be a load of rubbish, and of course if you have Helwax Mold duplicates of your status inflicting weapon it's by-the-by, but there is that consider. I think another important thing to remember is the on-crit effect is a separate roll (so you roll to attack and get a crit against deflection, when this occurs you get a second roll to stun/prone against fortitude). While Stun dramatically lowers deflection, ensuring more vs deflection crits and procs of further Stun rolls - the opponents' fortitude isn't debuffed at all by Stun or Prone effects. In this way, one handed ensures greater accuracy on the second roll against fortitude (from what I saw playing a rogue, the status roll uses the same accuracy you roll against deflection, I don't see why this would be any different for the Barbarian) and so likely longer Stun durations than two weapons - and again I think the hit-to-crit conversion would also apply to the fortitude roll. When taking these factors together, I think a one-hander could definitely be more effective at Stun-locking than two weapons - which at least for party play I think is their main utility. Even in solo play, given that you're doing a better job of Stun-locking, your DPS doesn't really matter as the opponent isn't getting an opportunity to attack. DPS is only really important if your opponent is doing you a decent amount of damage themselves, otherwise any amount of damage will do just fine. Personally, I will still be taking Two Weapon Style on my solo run, as with Strike Hard and Godansthunyr as I mentioned my accuracy difference to a one hander is only 7 - so I think the DPS is worth it. All that said it could be that that 7 accuracy when you combine it with 35% hit to crit from duganization and One-Handed Style may well give me an easier time of it by ensuring the crits on the secondary effect - so it's a difficult call to make.

Since I'm in the probation purgatory allotted to all newbies, you may have missed my post above, but I'll reiterate that I don't use scrolls, potions, or food. Shod-in-Faith was sufficient for my healing needs before Boots of Speed, and I haven't really missed them since. My revised build of Voltron's was originally an experiment to see if Moon godlike was actually indeed required, and I feel so far that that's definitely not the case. I think it comes down to how much status effects annoy you. I know status effects annoy me a lot, which is why I was attracted to Voltron's build in the first place and sought to build on it, and race choice is part of that for me. Anything that will soften the blow of status effect annoyance helps my sanity. Now that said, Moon godlikes are far from bad, just not the go-to requirement they're often made out to be imo. There's also opportunity costs involved. Building on healing in the way you suggest means equipment slots are increasingly funnelled to that endeavour at the expense of other possibilities, in this build's case anti-CC measures. If we take your example, to get that level of healing we're losing a helmet slot (godlike), cloak, belt, and any benefit a different racial might grant. I'm not denying the utility of a build with that much healing (particularly if you're determined to tank every tough mob straight up rather than kiting/splitting), but in that case you're probably already looking at a different direction for the build anyway. For one, Long Stride might become a bit redundant in that case. Of course in all this, I have to admit I'm biased, since I just personally really dislike the look of the Moon godlikes, so if at all possible I'd rather use something else in most builds. The ones I feel most sorry for are Nature godlikes. Someone throw them a bone and buff them already! I was talking about Moon Godlikes in general, not exclusively for the purposes of this build. However, it is interesting you say that Shod-in-Faith was enough without having to take more healing measures. I suppose if you are kiting all the while, the amount of hits you'll be taking will be rather reduced anyway. I find that even with defence stacking, it can be tricky to hit certain levels to make sure negative effects really aren't a problem for you. However I suppose if anyone can do it, the Monk or Paladin would be the best.

So I'm curious, what do people think is better - one handed or two weapon on a Barbarian? I thought seeing as it relates directly to the build, posting here was a reasonable idea. For one-handed, you get a +12 accuracy boost, you 15% crit to hit from One-Handed Style. Both these factors combine to get those vital crits on the enemy group, and help to secure crits for the on-crit status effect roll - giving you a greater likelihood to get some hefty durations there too. Further, I read somewhere that crits add 25 to your interrupt roll, though it's hard to say how this weighs up against two weapons attacking more rapidly and each having an interrupt roll. Though you won't deal as much damage using HoF, if you're so good at disabling a whole group than burst damage - or better DPS in general for that matter - becomes a little irrelevant, as the enemy won't be doing much of anything in the first place. And, as Boeroer said earlier, you can just switch to two weapons for your HoF alpha strike, and then switch back. On the flip side, DPS is good for two weapons as you are attacking very quickly. You can have your second slot taken up with whatever you want as your HoF will already be beastly. Further if you Helwax Mold your one-hander, you would think that you still might be edging the stun-lock effect of just using One-Handed Style. Going solo, I'm not going to have the luxury of the Helwax Mold - but one combo of two weapons does stand out. Godansthunyr has meaty interrupts and the vital on crit effect, Strike Hard has Disorientating for a -5 defense debuff. The Stun and Disorientating effects stack, meaning that the difference is just 7 accuracy, which isn't too bad at all - while giving you better DPS (remembering that Strike Hard is also a speed weapon). In any case, it's certainly a tricky thing to call. What are everyone else's thoughts?

Kaylon had this to say about the bug in a different thread: Do you mean bash doesn't hit twice when Taste of the Hunt procs? Or bash doesn't hit twice with HoF (as in each hit, doesn't generate a single additional hit on a different target)? Or just that you're not seeing the bash bug altogether. As both Loren Tyr and I tested the bash bug it would be weird if you couldn't replicate it, however perhaps with another effect in play the bash effect behaves correctly than it does in your average attack (which seems bugged, as mentioned). In fact I didn't see the bug at all, but I was focused mostly on HoF. However from what I read about the bug it doesn't seem to happen all the time... I guess it's a little inconsistent, it'd be nice if the root causes could be pinned down.

Weird, inconsistent bugs certainly are a treat. I'll add this mention to the bug report I made.

I posted a two weapon Fighter build here that worked well on PotD playing solo, I just haven't done a formal write up for it as I hadn't killed anything big (one of the dragons, etc.). For how to change the build from two weapon fighting to two handed weapon, I would move points out of Perception and into Dexterity so you hit faster seeing as you only have the one weapon (leaving Per at the base 10 mark). Make all the "Peasant" talents and abilities into "Soldier" so the benefits now apply to Greatswords, and you could also change Savage Attack to Superior Deflection to keep your Deflection above 100 end game (though I'm talking about "end game" here, if you follow the build you will be hitting consistently high Deflection throughout the game as a result) - plus this means your accuracy doesn't take as much of a hit, it'd be just a three points shy of mine (which is nothing, in practical terms). Depending on party composition, Fearless is likely a lot less use to you with a Priest/Paladin as it was to me on solo, so feel free to change it. Also the build has a natural defensive and healing-orientated slant (while maintaining modest DPS), but again if you have buffing and healing party members to make up for it then maybe you don't need to be so defensive so can take more offensive talents and abilities (though I would say this guy as is would be a very solid damage dealing tank - which can be of even more use to some parties). For weapon choice (as others have said), The Hours of St. Rumbalt can be bought in Act 1 from Dyrford Village (it's expensive, but so long as you keep your other party members' gear pretty naff you should be able to afford it, I've just bought Tall Grass from there solo in Act 1 which is even more expensive so it can be done) - just keep going east on the map after Caed Nua and don't pick any fights with mean-looking druids. In late Act 2 (or whenever you're strong enough) you can pick up Tidefall - this may even be better than the hatchets my own build was running as healing plus wounding is pretty sick. You can't really beat Tidefall two-handed, so from there on you're set. The one thing I would mention is Confident Aim is currently bugged and does a chunk more damage than it should do currently. My advice would be avoid it for the time being and respec in 3.04 when they should fix the problem - or you know just take it now and be an OP killing machine. Seeing as I played pretty much this build solo on PotD (two hatchets are going to have a pretty similar damage output to one great sword) into WM I and practically into Act 3 (I hadn't done Cliaban Rilag yet, but as it is on the critical path I could have breezed through that place no problem) I can guarantee it works and is good. I would still be playing it now, if not for the bug and me not wanting to respec - so I'll have to be good and wait.

Do you mean bash doesn't hit twice when Taste of the Hunt procs? Or bash doesn't hit twice with HoF (as in each hit, doesn't generate a single additional hit on a different target)? Or just that you're not seeing the bash bug altogether. As both Loren Tyr and I tested the bash bug it would be weird if you couldn't replicate it, however perhaps with another effect in play the bash effect behaves correctly than it does in your average attack (which seems bugged, as mentioned).

Yeah it's three, and seeing as HoF is per encounter now anyway (plus the fact it's not that difficult to get two rings of Searing Flames if you just check the loot lists) this would be an OP combo to say the least. I know HoF is a late game ability, but changing it to per encounter is pretty brutal - even without the possibility of Combusting Wounds stacking. I suppose that's why they thought it was okay to make it per encounter, because you have to be so far into the game to actually pick it up.

Probably horrifically. I think that's a large problem with Obsidian, they patch out bugs without looking at the knock-on effects. And while maybe they're maybe hoping that these interactions are caught in the beta (whether they would patch them if reported is debatable), if the player base can anticipate interactions better than the developers then that's not great. I think the Monkster Lasher build is a great example of this, they made Retaliation (and that means all variants) now roll for accuracy but I really think they didn't anticipate the Monk's lashes also being applied to all Retaliation effects. Personally I've been thinking about other Retaliation builds, but then I come to it I consider, "Wouldn't the Monkster Lasher be doing a dramatically better job?" The answer is yes, yes it would - I think the game would benefit from reverting to the old Retaliation mechanics on the Fire Godlike trait but keep the other Retaliation mechanics for the rest, but by that point you've made the mechanics too nonsensical and obtuse for gamers' to grasp so it doesn't work. It's almost like the original v1.0 bug, where they didn't realise Retaliate would be affected by Carnage also, and then Fire Godlike Barbarian builds were monstering through the entire game - and that was okay for v1.0, but now I think we should have moved beyond that. Plus the fact that, I think these interactions definitely divide the fans - as you'll have some saying these are bugged and exploitative features and others that say they're in the game so yeah so what? A game where the mechanics are such that we can all comfortably read from the same page is definitely a better one, where there aren't any terribly exploitative avenues. This isn't to disparage against intelligently thinking of those combinations of newly patched mechanics either, just that maybe the devs should have thought of them first - and whether or not they wanted them in the game, and also whether it's best to continually change the goal posts on these issues. While I get there's a lot more balls in the air with games with complex defense systems and interactions, it's still not as fun when interactions between different effects aren't being thought upon as much as the player base. It's not lazy per se as there is so much to consider, but when certain builds stand head and shoulders above others (Monkster Lasher for example, or "enemies take 100+ damage per Retaliation hit") it becomes a bit silly. Players obviously need defined boundaries to play within, if those boundaries become haphazardly set then how players interact with those boundaries becomes worse. So what I'm saying is, I think the combo of Combusting Wounds and HoF will be a neutron bomb towards any mob you want to attack. In fact, I'm 95% sure without even bothering to test it this will be another overpowered features that, now the devs have patched themselves into a corner ("We apply one patch and there's problems with interactions, we apply another to fix that stuff and there's still new problems with interactions - when will these people be happy?!"), it'll probably just remain in game and be ridiculously strong. With some of these builds, it becomes a fact of - "Do I play this god build or one that is knowingly weaker?" As someone who has always enjoyed designing "optimum" builds for various games (as many hardcore RPG players do) it's a difficult choice to reconcile, especially when some of these issue are springing from a lack of foresight.

To regale people with more unwanted solo DPS Barbarian advice, Tall Grass is pretty good early on - but not for the reason you think (i.e., the prone effect). In party play most people use Tall Grass to shield their "squishy" Barbarian from taking damage but stationing him on your second row with it. On solo, seeing as you're taking damage anyway, I find it really helps to hit their second row so that you're getting your Carnage deeper into the mob - hitting the whole group. Honestly early on, your accuracy isn't good enough (this is coming from someone with a Weapon Focus and 18 Per) and with plate (which I still recommend - despite it being a bummer speedwise) you're not attacking fast enough to really maintain the prone (I'll level 5 currently, I'm sure when I get to level 8 maybe the prone will be juicier). I've also picked up Tall Grass in Act I for a change going to Dyrford Village (which I never normally do) - I would strongly recommend this course of action to anyone in the same boat. I'm considering picking up Angio's Gambeson for less recovery and for DAoM early, the DPS might be enough to offset the lack of DR - but Tall Grass set me back a penny. In terms of talents and abilities, I would strongly recommend Veteran's Recovery level 2 and Savage Defiance level 3 - that level of colossal healing so early is to be honest a life saver. If anyone was wondering where I get so much money so early, a pro-tip for backers going solo is to sell Guan's Pledge to Heodan for 2000+, kerching! He buys stuff off you for a dramatically increased value, so even if you aren't a backer I recommend selling him the Disappointer, anything you find in the chests, your weapons and - I'm not proud to say this - your clothes. You have to find the money for the Bronze Horn Figurine somehow! Also, definitely do the Blacksmith's quest before buying the figurine for 1000 gold discount.

Cheese tactics are what make a solo run

It doesn't seem too bad so far, the fact that my interrupt is so high does offset the issue that they are interrupting me all the time - it's kind of a stalemate The build was one of the rare one's that beat both the wolves and the bandits in Valewood upon fully resting (to get rid of that initial fatigue) - so that certainly is something in terms of a slight benchmark.

Can some please fix the stupid purple fabric shooting out the back of Thaos's left arm in the opening Cilant Lis section, it's been in the game since v1.0 and I think it gives a very bad impression of the game overall if that's what you see in one of the very first scenes. I guess I could have mentioned this a while ago, but now my threshold for what is a tolerable bug has dropped significantly and besides as developers I think it's a little embarrassing seeing as it's so early and it's supposed to set the tone of the game.

I decided to just go DPS Barbarian in the meantime (I'll leave the tank untouched), given Boeroer's experience that the low concentration isn't that punishing. I'm going low Res for the critical hit procs (Shod-in-Faith and Sanguine Plate) but also as much healing as I can manage (Moon Godlike, Veteran's Recovery, Shod-in-Faith plus Lost Periapt, Savage Defiance and Second Wind) with a Belt of Bountiful Healing and x1.6 survival bonus. I figure between huge DR (I'm picking up Thick-Skinned and Second Skin to go with the plate), massive healing (x2 Consecrated Grounds, in conjunction with all the other stuff I said, and Wound Binding to give me a large enough health pool to make use of those endurance heals) and high DPS plus ridiculous CC and accuracy (dual-wielding Godansthunyr and Strike Hard with Interrupting Blows - with Tall Grass which also benefits from WF Soldier in the meantime) I should do quite well. I'll do a class build if I get far enough solo, as although it is the typical CC + interrupt Barbarian I think the slant towards crazy healing gives it a tanky edge that hasn't featured overly in other builds (at least not Barb builds). Still, I would have preferred to just go pure tank, I guess I'll have to be patient.

I think they're talking about the 3 miss, 4 hit style now in the combat log. I have no clue if there's a way to get this more detailed however.

Sigh, bash appears to be bugged on Barbarians and hit more than once. I've made a bug report, but it seems like this is another build I'll have to shelve for the time being.

I noticed that with Carnage shield bash with Larder Door seems to attack outside the Carnage range and seemingly attacks more than once (two shield swinging noises are applied, and some enemies seem to get two rounds of Carnage applied with what should be one attack). I think the second bash attack is also being applied to a different target than the one which you are attacking, which would explain how it's hitting people outside the normal Carnage range (i.e. a second bash is being applied to someone to the back of the mob). Saves can be provided, but you can test it (which I did to confirm it after noticing it on my main character) at the initial camp site by consoling in Larder Door. I play Expert Mode on my main character so it was a little tricky to notice at first. This is obviously a problem for anyone wanting to play with one of the Barbarian's soulbound items - Dragon's Maw.

I still find it tough not to pick Moon Godlike on solo. Auto-heals are a much nicer benefit that most of what the other races have to offer, giving you 195 endurance back at level 16. With the third stage Survival healing bonus, and a Belt of Bountiful Healing/Fulvano's Amulet, that becomes 390 before you even factor in Might. Plus, the slots that you're using for potions and scrolls for healing can now be more easily dedicated to something of more use - e.g. offensive scrolls or figurines. I think when I play a class with enough healing likely then I'll go Fire Godlike or possibly something else (the Maegfolc Skull does provide nice healing late game in the helmet slot), and obviously kiters don't really need healing, but Moon Godlike definitely is a solid pick for solo.

Apart from when I first got the game, I've done nothing but solo on all my playthroughs - so I'm fairly practiced with what to do now, especially at the beginning of the game. I did think about making a guide for it at some point, or at least a guide for specific locations annotating the map (for example Stalwart, where there's a path you can take which avoids most of the fighting and gives you both good corner positioning for the final fight or a circuit to kite on if you're fast enough depending on your preference). I knew that they persisted when you were knocked out, but I never thought about luring the group away from you so you could survive. I guess it makes some sense logically as well (an enemy group could conceivably leave someone for dead) so I'll give it a try. Rogues are great solo because Shadowing Beyond means you can walk away from any fight any time you want to easily. Kill half a group, pop Shadowing Beyond, rest up - then come back and finish the others. It really gives Rogue's a massive advantage for solo (though it gives you a bit of a rude awakening when you first try Stalwart and you can't rest)! I'll definitely keep people posted on the tanky Barbarian, and will write up a class build if it can take down the Alpine Dragon, etc. It'll take a bit of time for it to get going though, there's probably not much to say about it until after Defiance Bay. Savage Defiance is rather absurd early on - it's currently healing me in the region of 180 endurance, when my character doesn't even have 100 endurance yet! Considering you get an extra Savage Defiance with Dragon's Maw, the healing late game should be pretty crazy. To me, the game was built with some content skipping in mind. Very few builds are going to be able to solo the bears when they first meet them, so you're more or less intended to come back at a higher level. Normally I aim to clear every map in an act before progressing to the next act, I think that's a pretty fair standard to set. I was doing fairly well with my Fighter going DPS on solo before they bugged Confident Aim. The DPS wasn't massive as I was using Hearth Harvest and the Vile Loner's Lance, but it was pretty consistent and the defenses were adequate for tanking. All that said, a rather massive advantage of taking the Peasant Weapon Focus and Specialization plus Mastery is that you become a beast with Persistence too. Likely, when I got to things like the Dragons, I would have kited with Persistence rather than try the DPS route. I guess I'll have to wait to 3.04 to finish that up.

I think the trick with Paladins and Fighters for solo is to focus on DPS while retaining some ability to tank, which isn't exactly hard to do given their innate defenses. Then the fights don't take half as long, and when you get to Sacred Immolation on a Paladin things should be much easier.

Personally I tend to avoid split-pulling quite a bit on solo and just come back to some encounters when I'm ready for them. There are a few tricks to get some quests done with minimal combat too, for example for the blacksmith's crate if you sneak from a north-easterly direction and time it right you can get the crate back without any confrontation (works even with no sneak investment) and for the Temple of Eothas, if you have reasonable mechanics, you can get finish the quest by heading into the room with the big spiders to left on the upper floor and pulling the hidden switch that gets you to the room with the bells and the big door, then on the lower floor you can just unlock the door that leads to the area where the remains are. You have to fight one Phantom, which is a pain, but other than that is relatively simple - then you can leave the rest and come back when you're a good level Also, for the task at Madhmr Bridge, if you approach it from the Anslog's Compass direction you appear on the eastern side of the map and don't have to deal with that damn skirmisher. In terms of getting to Raedric, you can do it by killing just two guys, then agree to help him - then go to Kolsc and agree to help him again instead, then you can go back and kill Raedric as you please - but you get experience at a lot of these stages. Stuff like this lets you level pretty rapidly, the trick is really just knowing where to go and what to do.