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This build was created for a collaboration with @Aestus who runs the Youtube channel Aestus_RPG. Here's the video where we talk about this and other builds. This is build 2 of 5 from that collaboration. ----------------------------------------- This build is mainly meant for inspiration. You don't need to follow it in detail to have fun. If you understand the key features - the basic idea what makes this build special - you can usually deviate from my non-core attribute-, skill-, gear- and ability selection and form the build to your own likings and ideas. I do not try to produce the most powerful uberbuilds (often those are the most boring to play in he long run) but to focus on having fun while playing. Usually that means the build is powerful - but it's not the main focus. If you like to read about my personal requirements for "fun to play" builds, you can jump to a list below this post ----------------------------------------- orn a slave, Miccaela Shorsh grew up in the shadowed quarters of Ancenze in the Vaillian Republics, where art, politics, and wealth flourish - at least for the free. Her mother Borschtscha was cleaning the dog kennels for one of the wealthy families, and Miccaela seemed destined for the same life of subjugation and shἱt shoveling. However, even as a child and despite her little frame, her voice was unlike any other, an voluminous sound that could either stir hearts and calm tempers or incide discord and altercations. Unbeknownst to her, her gift was more than mere sound: Miccaela possessed a rare psionic talent, woven into her voice. Her abilities first manifested during a punishment because she refused to wash the stinky fur of the owners' favorite hound Beangobbler the Volatile. Terrified and in pain, Miccaela sang a phrase so powerful that it brought the overseer to his knees, clutching his pearls. Word of this strange power spread quickly through the household, and Miccaela was soon seen as dangerous, but also a potential tool. Her owners realized her voice could be used for their advantage in politics and business, so they forced the little Wild Orlan to perform at grand galas, her melodies subtly manipulating the minds of listeners. But the Wild Orlan's rebellious nature kicked in: at a big dinner event she planted a simple longing into all of the female guests: to stab their partners or patrons with a greasy shashlik skewer as soon as they started to talk obnoxiuos stuff. As a tumult erupted and people who looked like shashlik porcupine fell over each other, Miccaela managed to flee the scene - and the Vaillian Republics althoghether on a trading vessel which was headed for the Deadfire Archipelago. As Miccaela grew older (which happens pretty quickly with Orlans, min you), she learned to conceal her abilities behind the guise of mere performance. Although cleaning the kennels, Beangobbler the Volatile and the whole slavery shebang was behind her, she longed to fight for freedom for all sentient beings: every note she sang became a coded message of rebellion, a call to anyone who would be susceptible to the power of her voice. Now, Miccaela is no longer just a performer, but a covert agent of resistance, using her voice to bend minds, influence rulers and subtly shift the balance of power. In secret and with a philosophy similar to that of a Bleak Walker, she will use all means to free the oppressed and gather those who would help her tear down the chains of slavery, always with a song on her lips and her psionic power in her little yellow furry head. "I won't let you down I will not give you up Gotta have some faith in the sound It's the one good thing that I've got I won't let you down So please don't give me up Because I really, really don't want to wash that hound..." - Miccaela while freezing some killers stiff - =================================== The Ceaseless Siren =================================== Difficulty: PotD -------------------------------------------------------------- Solo: untested -------------------------------------------------------------- Class: Spiritualist - Psion/Troubadour -------------------------------------------------------------- Race: Wild Orlan (or any) -------------------------------------------------------------- Background: Old Vaillia (or any) - Slave (or any) -------------------------------------------------------------- Stats (w/o Berath's Blessings, ★=recommmendation) MIG: 10 (11, -1 Orlan) CON: 10 (do not dump) DEX: 12 PER: 15 (13, +2 Orlan) ★ INT: 19 (18, +1 Old Vailia) ★★ RES: 12 (11, +1 Orlan, do not dump) ★ -------------------------------------------------------------- the unique icons for all passive abilities are part of the Community Patch mod Abilities | Skills | Proficiencies - (!=important, r=recommended, a=automatic) 00. Brisk Recitation (! a) + Telekinetic Burst (a) 01. Whisper of Treason + If Their Bones Still Slept + Blessed was Wengridh | Dagger + Large Shield 02. Lingering Echoes | +1 Stealth (->1), +1 Intimidate (->1) 03. Soul Shock | +1 Stealth (->2), +1 Intimidate (->2) 04. At the Soud of his Voice + Mental Binding | +1 Stealth (->3), +1 Insight (->2) | Small Shield 05. Weapon and Shield Style (r) | +1 Stealth (->4), +1 Intimidate (->3) 06. Phantom Foes | +1 Stealth (->5), +1 Insight (->3) 07. Ancient Brittle Bones + Puppet Master | +1 Stealth (->6), +1 Bluff (->3) 08. Secret Horrors | +1 Stealh (->7), +1 Intimidate (->4) | Sabre 09. And Hel-Hyraf Crashed | +1 Slight of Hand (->3 ), +1 Insight (->4) 10. The Shield Cracks + Pain Block | +1 Stealth (->8), +1 Bluff (->4) 11. Spell Shaping | +1 Sleight of Hand (->4), +1 Intimidate (->4) 12. Penetrating Visions | +1 Sleight of Hand (->5), +1 Insight (->5) | Club 13. Rapid Casting + Borrowed Instinct | +1 Mecanics (->2), +1 Bluff (->5) 14. Keen Mind | +1 Mechanics (->3), +1 Intimidate (->6) 15. Farcasting (r) | +1 Mechanics (->4), +1 Insight (->6) 16. Quick Summoning + The Empty Soul | +1 Mechanics (->5), +1 Bluff (->6) | Scepter 17. Disintegration | +1 Mechanics (->6), +1 Intimidate (->7) 18. Greater Focus | +1 Arcana (->2), +1 Insight (->7) 19. Many Lives Pass By (r) + Ancestor's Memory | +1 Arcana (->3), +1 Bluff (->7) 20. Called to His Bidding | +1 Arcana (->4), +1 Intimidate (->8) | Pistol --------------------------------------------------------------- Items (!=important, r=recommended) Weapon Set 1: Sasha's Singing Scimitar (r, +Refreshing Finale, +Shocking Prelude), Shimmer Scale (+Warped Scales, +Thermal Ablation, +Legendary) Weapon Set 2: Lover's Embrace (use modal at all times), Shining Bulwark (+Rear Guard, +Legendary, use modal when shot at) Head: Pearlescent Rhomboid Helstone (or any other) Back: Cloak of Greater Deflection (r - helps to demotivate enemies from attacking you) Neck: Charm of Bones (r - for the added INT -> bigger AoE and durations) Armor: Casita Samelia's Legacy (+Legendary, +Ardent) or Nomad's Brigandine (+Tail of the Column, +Tactical Withdraw, +Legendary) or Gipon Prudensco (+Legendary, +Fight Another Day, +No Fool I) Waist: Girdle of Eoten Constitution Hands: Bracers of Greater Deflection (r - helps to demotivate enemies from attacking you) Rings: Chamaeleon's Touch (+1 INT & +1 PER) or Ring of Protection or Deflection, Kuaru's Prize Boots: Boots of Stability or Boots of Speed Pet: Loki (+15% AoE size) or Animancy Cat (when using summons a lot) or whatever suits your spell selection --------------------------------------------------------------- What is this build about: endless generation of resouces: you gain focus and phrases for your spells without having to do anything. That also means your resources fill up while you cast, run around etc. Using the Psion (focus gain per second, scales with Power Level) and the Troubadour (phrases elapse twice a fast with Brisk Recitation -> double the phrase point generation) gives you a caster who never runs out of spell resources and has almost no downtime: excellent action economy no need to actively use your weapon (which you are not good with anyways) immense versatility with all sorts of great spells: healing, reviving, disables, damage, buffing, mind control, summons - you can do it all. Pick what your party needs and you’ll be good at it. You can then also alter the gear to your needs. For example: if you wanted to play a Ceaseless Siren as a damage dealer who is spamming shock spells (Her Revenge + Soul Shock) nonstop you could pick up Deltro's Cage instead of the armor I listed above. If you want to take a support role (casting Pain Block and singing Ancient Memory or Mercy and Kindness etc.) you could use the Physikers Belt and a pet that does +15% healing and so on. The most potent combination might be to focus on mind control on the Psion side (Whisper of Treason, Puppet Master, Ringleader) and on summons on the Troubadour side (Animated Weapon + Many Lives Pass By), but constant CC spells are also very impactful: spamming Killers Froze Stiff + Mental Binding lets you completely disable and control whole groups of enemies pretty early in the game. independent from special unique items, this build can free up gear for other party members who might need it more. Sasha's Singing Scimitar is great, but even without it this caster is very effective. So if you want to include another chanter in the party who might make even better use of the weapon (for example a Bellower) it's not a problem. attributes can be allocated freely fitting your role. For example a damage dealer wants more MIG, a summoner or supporter/healer wouldn't need a lot of PER. one of the very few class combinations that beat the Ultimate challenge without the "endless duration of buffs" exploit - which shows how powerful it can be. I chose a mix of CC, damage, healing and summons so that there's always an answer to most situations. While playing you will quickly find out which spells you like to use the most - just can alter your choices of abilities and gear accordingly. Issues: when you get damaged (or critically hit when using the Community Patch mod which I recommend) your focus generation will stop for a short time. Unconditional focus generation is the Psion’s forte. While phrase generation stops briefly after an invocation the Psion’s focus never stops growing until damaged (or critically hit with the CP mod). Without this costant focus generation the Psion is bad. So you want to avoid getting attacked! You automatic ability Telikinetic Burst can help of course. But there's other ways to reduce the risks: stay stealthed at the beginning of combat. You want to load up on focus anyway - and when enemies have settled on your party members (like your tank) you are lot less likely to get attacked. having good deflection and/or immunity against disengagment attacks lets you get away without damage. you shouldn't build a glasscannon but have to invest into defenses. You can also use summons and mind control/disables to avoid damage to great effect - but more importantly (because it works without much effort and micromanagement) raise your deflection and armor and don’t dump your CON (health). There are lots of enemies out there that specifically look for weak party members in terms of low deflection, low armor and low health (like rangers, rogues and barbs do). Using a shield and putting on decent armor deters most of those enemies from picking you as their favorite target in the first place, giving you an easier time. sacrifice some offensive prowess for defense. It will help to let this character play a lot more smoothly than maxing your offensive potential. Unusual for a caster but it works. The best offensive stats mean nothing if you cannot cast because you lack focus. Another great way to prevent getting attacked (without having to actively do anything) in the later game is to sing Many Lives Pass By at all times - a weak skeleton that pops up every 3 seconds and forms a group of skeletons with its buddies quickly draws attention away from you and shields you from almost all attackers. Why is it fun: because of the endless and fast resource generation there’s always something to do, very little downtime. Opposite of low level Wizards, Priests or Druids who have very few spells in he early game. the spell selection is great always good impact, powerful right away bc. of summons, great CC and so on extremely versatile. There are Very little situations where you cannot contribute. The swiss army knife of casters because of the rel. good sturdyness (to avoid focus stop) little frustration from getting knocked out etc. which is great for inexperienced players. does not depend on items - this can help to attain a special look or theme/background a lot more easily without the feeling you have to sacrifice performance. Hope you enjoy! Cheers!

This build was created for a collaboration with @Aestus who runs the Youtube channel Aestus_RPG. Here's the video where we discuss 5 builds for Deadfire. This is build 3 of 5 from that collaboration. ----------------------------------------- This build is mainly meant for inspiration. You don't need to follow it in detail to have fun. If you understand the key features - the basic idea what makes this build special - you can usually deviate from my non-core attribute-, skill-, gear- and ability selection and form the build to your own likings and ideas. I do not try to produce the most powerful uberbuilds (often those are the most boring to play in he long run) but to focus on having fun while playing. Usually that means the build is powerful - but it's not the main focus. If you like to read about my personal requirements for "fun to play" builds, you can jump to a list below this post ----------------------------------------- orn aboard the creaking decks of a ship, Roberto Dilani was raised in the cutthroat world of the Deadfire Archipelago’s biggest pirate faction, the Principi sen Patrina. His mother, a ruthless weather mage with aspirations of command, and his father, a famed marksman who wielded an arbalest with deadly precision, instilled in him the cunning of a pirate, curiosity for the arcane and the artistry of ranged combat. Roberto grew up with a mind as sharp as his aim, constantly honing his ability to strike from afar with unerring accuracy. Early in his youth, Roberto saved a little piglet from the ship's cook and named him "Tartufo" and the two became close friends despite Tartufo's pretty overwhelming odor. Roberto also discovered his talents as an Arcane Archer, able to weave magic into the very bolts he fired from his heirloom arbalest passed down from his father. The weapon was renowned for its ability to break enemy lines with crushing force, and in Roberto's hands, it became even more dangerous, as his magical prowess allowed him to overwhelm foes with staggering shots of power and precision. Loving the songs and shanties that were sung on deck he also grew into a skilled Troubadour, learning to use his voice and lyrics not only to inspire his crew but also to further enchant his shots. His ability to suppress and take out helmsmen or even captains on enemy ships earned him the nickname "Pindown Poet". Roberto acted with cunning and strategy, using his arbalest to pin down dangerous foes while his crew took control of the seas. Though loyal to the Principi, Roberto's ambitions reached beyond petty plunder. He dreamed of exploring the world beyond the archipelago, using his deadly mix of arcane powers, song, and steel to carve a legacy that will be spoken of in taverns for generations. He believes that with an arbalest in hand and the legends of old as his guide, he can shape not only his own future but the fate of the Principi itself. "Hey, Mr. Arbalest Man, sing a song for us We're not sleepy and there is no place we're going to Hey, Mr. mouthy Helmsman, I'll sing a song for you and the spear I cast will put you on your arse." - Roberto while spanning his arbalest during a boarding fight - =================================== The Pindown Poet =================================== Difficulty: PotD -------------------------------------------------------------- Solo: untested -------------------------------------------------------------- Class: Wildrhymer - Arcane Archer/Troubadour -------------------------------------------------------------- Race: Wood Elf (or any non-godlike, e.g. Boreal Dwarf) -------------------------------------------------------------- Background: Old Vailia (or any, e.g. White that Wends) - Mercenary (or any, e.g. Mystic bc. +Arcana) -------------------------------------------------------------- Stats (w/o Berath's Blessings. ★=recommendation) MIG: 11 CON: 08 DEX: 18 (17 + 1 Elf) ★★ PER: 18 (17 +1 Elf) ★ INT: 19 (18 + 1 Old Vailia) ★★ RES: 04 -------------------------------------------------------------- the unique icons for all passive abilities are part of the Community Patch mod Abilities | Skills | Proficiencies - (!=important, r=recommended) 00. Brisk Recitation (a) 01. Not Felled By the Axe + Dull the Edge + Imbue: Missiles (a) + Marked Prey (r) | Arbalest (!) + Rod (r) 02. Fast Runner | +1 Arcana(!) (->2), +1 Survival (->2) 03. Arms Bearer (r) (Shattered Vengeance for Coordinated Escape) | +1 Arcana(!) (->3), +1 Survival (->3) 04. Two-Handed Style +Gunner (!) | +1 Arcana(!) (->4), +1 Survival (->4) | Large Shield 05. Marksman (r) | +1 Arcana(!) (->5), +1 Survival (->5) 06. Protective Companion (r) | +1 Arcana(!) (->6), +1 Survival (->6) 07. Sure-Handed Ila (!) + Imbue: Web (a) + Evasive Roll (r) | +1 Arcana(!) (->7), +1 Survival (->7) 08. Marked for the Hunt | +1 Arcana(!) (->8), +1 Survival (->8) | Arquebus 09. Resilient Companion | +1 Arcana(!) (->9), +1 Survival (->9) 10. Aefyllath Ues Myth Fir (r) + Stalker's Link (r) | +1 Arcana(!) (->10), +1 Survival (->10) 11. Rise Again, Rise Again (r) | +1 Arcana(!) (->11), +1 Survival (->11) 12. Nor Flame, Nor Thrusted Blade | +1 Arcana(!) (->12), +1 Survival (->12) | Club 13. The Lover Cried Out (r) + Imbue: Fireball (a) + Driving Flight (!) | +1 Arcana(!) (->13), +1 Survival (->13) 14. Master's Call | +1 Arcana(!) (->14), +1 Survival (->14) 15. Spell Shaping | +1 Arcana(!) (->15), +1 Survival (->15) 16. And Face your Foes + Survival of the Fittest (r) | +1 Arcana(!) (->16), +1 Survival (->16) | Dagger 17. The Bride Caught | +1 Arcana(!) (->17), +1 Survival (->17) 18. Tough | +1 Arcana(!) (->18), +1 Survival (->18) 19. Called to His Bidding (r) + Imbue: Eora (a) + Furious Call | +1 Arcana(!) (->19), +1 Survival (->19) 20. Set to their Purpose | +1 Arcana(!) (->20), +1 Survival (->20) | Pistol --------------------------------------------------------------- Items (!=important, r=recommended) Weapon Set 1: Spearcaster (! - +Legendary, Elemental Bolts, +Pinning) Weapon Set 2: Watershaper's Focus (r - best weapon for imbued shots, +Ondrath's Wrath, +Legendary) Weapon Set 3: Shattered Vengeance (r - +Coordinated Escape), Large Shield (any, +Superb) Head: Acina's Tricorn (r - +Acc and +reloading speed) Back: Ruata's Walking Cloak (skill Survival for ++stride) Neck: Necklace of the Harvest Moon (+reloading speed on crit) Armor: Sharpshooter's Garb (r, reloadin speed, +Legendary, +Low Profile, +Steel Threaded) Waist: Huana Charm Belt (+stride) or Spellkeeper (get a free scroll per rest: profit from high Arcana) Hands: Aegor's Swift Touch (+reloading speed) or Firethrower's Gloves (+reloading speed and +Arcana) Rings: Ring of the Marksman (r), Camaeleon's Touch (+1 PER, +1 INT to reach INT 20 for overlapping phrases) Boots: Boots of Speed (+stride, stacks with belt and cloak) Pet: Epsilon (-armor recovery, +stride) --------------------------------------------------------------- What is this build about: reaching very high accuracy and reducing your reloading time with arbalests so much that you can use the arbalest's modal "Overbearing Shots" to prone and interrupt single enemies (or two enemies with Driving Flight) every few seconds, essentially taking them out of the fight - depite the modal's -25% action speed. combine that with powerful AoE CC capabilities that have very high accuracy (mostly Imbue:Web + Imbue: Eora) High accuracy is achieved with Spearcaster + maxed Arcana skill + Ranger’s accuracy abilities and the Arcane Archer’s Imbue shots - which profit from Arcana, too very high reloading speed with no fuzz is achieved with Gunner (Ranger) and Sure-Handed Ila (Chanter) as well as high DEX and items (such as Maia’s Armor, Acina’s Tricorn, pet etc.) and cosumables (mostly food from resting). Sure-Handed Ila applies its -20% recovery time buff twice(!) to reloading weapons such as the arquebus. As long as you sing phrases you’ll always have three times -20% reloading time just from those two abilities (Gunner and Sure-Handed Ila). add Aefyllath Ues Myth Fir to give the party and yourself a burning lash for all weapon attacks. 19 INT +1 INT from items (like Chamaeleons Touch) makes sure your Troubadour phrases will have no gaps. You will not use Brisk Recitation most of times Spearcaster can cause “immobilized” on hit (in addition to prone enemies with the modal) - so you are combining the prone effect with being stuck. And all you have to do is just by using rapid auto-attack against mobs use Imbue:Web and later Imbue:Eora which together create a zone of incredibly powerful pulsing CC which immobilizes and then pulls enemy into the center. Most enemies cannot escape from this. Imbue effects get triggered with every projectile jump(!). This means Driving Flight adds another proc of Binding Web and Pull of Eora. If you can add another jump you'll get another proc. This is the reason why I'm using Watershaper's Focus ()it has an innate projectile jump that stacks with Driving Flight. If I use the rod's modal "Blast" I can add 3*AoE damage to the imbue shot and also I raise the chance to proc "Ondrath's Wrath" which is a high damage AoE water splash. Blast causes very long recovery. But if I fire the first imbue shot from stealth I'll have 80% recovery bonus which means the second imbue shot can follow quickly. After that I switch to Spearcaster and take out single dangerous enemies. it’s the perfect setup for allied casters and other AoE damage dealers who can now hit a lot of enemies at the same time give your main tank an item that grants immunity to push and pull effects (Upright Captain's Belt or Horns of the Aurochs) to negate the effect of Pull of Eora and give the tank immunity or resistance vs. DEX afflictions (Spider Silk robes, Shark Soup, Gwyn's Bridal Garter, Engwithan Bracers, Cipher's Shackle, Boots of the White...) or Reflex attacks (Edér's Saint's War Armor: Veteran's Maneuver) singular enemies like bosses can be taken out of the fight with prone&pin auto-attacks. Because of the fast reload and the burning lash (and the small lashes of the arbalest itself) you deal good damage - although your main focus is constant disabling/CC due to the fact that Animal Companions do not suffer injuries when they get knocked out - and the fact that Chanters can revive allies unlimited times (if no injury occurs) you don’t have to worry about a dead Animal Companion. Just revive! Since I am not using invocations all the time but only in special situations and because I can always cancel reloading the reactivity is superb. if Animal Companion is revived it even gets a defense boost. In addition I get the usefulness of Chanter invocations in general. You could add more summons like wurms to your offensive arsenal in the early game or use the White Worms invocation fropm afar - you could use the resitance chants instead of Myth Fir and so on. Almost always able to retreat from melee attackers safely (see below). A non-Arcane Archer variant that might want to focus on single targets more could also look at crossbows instead of arbalests. They interrupt but don't get the prone effect, but the 10% crit conversion on crossbows is actually universal, meaning it applies to all your attack rolls (including spells). They are also a bit faster of course. Fleetbreaker is an excellent crossbow (if you want to support Cpt. Furrante that is, otherwise it's not accessible) an the late game crossbow Scourge of Bezello is like it's made for a Ranger/Chanter character with its overall theme and especially with its 3 projectiles: each of them can interrupt with the crossbow modal, making it supereasy to strip a target of all concentration and interrupting it very reliably. Thanks to @Elric Galad for pointing this out. Issues: like your party members your Animal Companion should not enter the zone of absolute CC - so you can often only use it as your bodyguard. Because of Stalker's Link and Marked Prey it’s still very useful against bosses etc. when you usually don't use imbued CC shots a lot. If you use a tank (which I recommend) you should add immunity to push&pull effects on that tank as well as resistance or even immunity to dexterity afflictions as I said above. Else your tank will be stuck and tossed around as well. the Trouabdour side is mostly there for the chants, not the invocations (no Brisk Recitation). If you use an invocation your chanting will stop briefly, robbing your of the reloading bonus of Sure-Handed Ila. although it’s quite versatile for a ranged weapon build: it completely lacks melee capabilities (except with the Animal Companion). Usually you have to bolt if you get attacked. Your defenses will not be great and your health rel. low, too. To be able to retreat safely you cannot get hit by disengagement attacks. I do three different things when I get attacked by melee enemies: if it's only one I will just shoot him down (prone/stuck) until dead if it's more than one attacker I will try to charm at least one of them with an emergeny invocation. If I hit all of them I can run away safely with high stride (from boots, cloak, Fast Runner and so on). if one or more enemies cannot be charmed (but at least one is) I switch to my third weapon set (Shattered Vegeance + large shield). With my Animal Companion at my side and a at least one enemy charmed I get "Coordinated Escape" which makes me immune to engagement (if I'n near 2 or more allies, animal companions and charmed enemies count), letting me run away safely. if I cannot charm enough enemies and/or my animal companion is not near I use Evasive Roll if I get shot or cast at and cannot disable the attacker myself I will switch to large shield + modal (greatly reduces AoE and ranged dmg) and use Evasive Roll to get out of the situation. it is true that you can achieve the same with any Trouabdour in the party and another Arcane-Archer-multiclass (for example Cipher/Arcane Archer, Rogue/Arcane Archer, Monk/Arcane Archer or Paladin/Arcane Archer). This build however is the best "self-contained" version that doesn't require taking in a separate Trouabdour. Why is it fun? it’s easy to play because it doesn’t require a lot of setup: you just start combat and everything you need is right there. Shoot and immediate result - the enemy’s down. Blast and the mob is conentrated and controlled the swirling field of utter CC is so impactful and makes you feel quite powerful. It happens in an instant - unlike usual spellcasting which take a rather long time to complete it’s great against mobs AND single foes at the same time. It never feels useless seeing enemies getting pushed over all the time - right when they get up again - is fun it doesn’t need a lot of levels to become impactful: you can prone almost every enemy right away (albeit much slower at the beginning due to the lack of reload bonuses) and you can get Spearcaster and most of the other gear pretty early in the game you can maneuver yourself out of a pinch easily. Usually you will sit on phrases because the focus is on the chants - but if you need an invocation asap you have the full amount of phrases and can react immediately. It helps that with reloading weapons you can just cancel the reloading (unlike recovery) so you can react very quickly. Having great reactiveness is fun Hope you enjoy! Cheers!

Rygmrand's "Artist" Class: Spiritualist ( Soulblade/Chanter ) Difficulty: PotD+ Version: 2.1 Solo: Hel Yes DESCRIPTION: A powerful build that snowballs early into a biawac of destruction and test the power of your gaming contraption! Kill your enemies with ice and decay. If you thought Grave Calling/Hel Beckoning's imp route was neat, you're in for a real big treat. Soul annihilating summons all day! RP: A character I imagined who would rise up to be Rymgrand's top agent. (EDIT) Patch 2.1 - Soul Annihilation's killing blow now has been fixed, but the skeleton and chillfog synergy is still going strong. Difference is now you can either dump SA on enemies or spam cipher spells during chillfog bursts kind of like a semi-ascendant that has Soul Annihilation. I also recommend trying out a Berserker Howler (skeleton nukes) or Harbinger multiclass (deathblow passives) for damage output if you can make do without the cipher utility to increase accuracy or weaken enemy fortitude defenses. There are 2 things that make this build work: 1. Soulblade's Soul Annihilation (SA) despite saying "Primary Attack", will trigger any weapon "on kill" effects if the target dies from the raw damage portion of the attack even if the weapon with the effect is equipped on the offhand. Apparently it also ignores the type of creature it is when it is killed, which will fulfill any "on kill" effect that requires a certain monster type (kith, etc). CAUTION: I am sure this is unintended so enjoy it while it lasts. D: 2. Most abilities that are activated or procced from a weapon will usually calculate damage and special effects using the weapon and any passive abilities the character has. In the case of the cipher, it will generate focus for them. There are some exceptions, but it is usually the case. Technically you could use SA's agnostic killing blow on any soulblade multiclass, which would probably make soulblade/rogue into an insane force of destruction on trash, but the chanter multiclass was the safer choice in order to supply your own "easy fuel" for SA kills and to default back to a chanter summon line on harder fights. Using the raw damage hit of the Soulblade's Soul Annihilation, I am able to 1-2 shot my low HP summons and able to proc the on kill effects of Grave Calling and Hel Beckoning regardless if they are a vessel or spirit. For Grave Calling I have enchanted it to cast chill fog on a vessel kill which will be my skellies. This will result in a free AoE non-hazardous chillfog spell when I kill my summon that blinds and pulses damage to enemies that ALSO contribute to my focus gain, which means I can then use soul annihilation immediately again on an enemy or spam cipher spells. This also stacks my ice lash buff and with the paralyzation on crit enchant, many of the enemies caught in the chillfog spam become blinded and paralyzed as they get torn apart. The afflictions will still persist even if they are immune to freeze damage. The even nastier thing is that if a vessel dies from chillfog it will spawn another chillfog because it is still benefiting from Grave Calling's passives. You will want to cull near-death non-vessels with SA to take advantage of their deaths. POST 2.1 - While this still can work when fighting spirits, it now requires a bit more micro of what blade does killing blows. The other styles seem a lot more viable now and even weapon/ranged can work since the build has no full attacks. In the case for Hel Beckoning, which has procs on a spirit kill and behaves similar to Grave Calling, the two options are a corrode AoE or a corrode imp summon. Although the AoE option is definitely the higher damage option on normal fights, the single aoe cast can miss since it is after all going against fortitude defense, can be resisted by poison immunes, and it doesn't pulse like chillfog does. So for this weapon in solo mode I opted to turn it into a imp summoning tool though in a party you can opt for the AoE instead since you won't have to worry about resistances and survivability as much. The main benefit is to gain ranged cannon fodder separate from the chanter's summons that will also leave usable bodies for "The White Worms AKA Corpse Explosion," which will give a crush damage vs reflex option. Note: The bodies still have the summoning timer and will disappear when it expires. Also of course, the white worms can be used aggressively to unload even more damage on top of the chillfog deathzone to end encounters even quicker without needing focus to spam amplified wave. Hel Beckoning may not always be your main offhand since there are options like Resounding Hammer that gives a free Might+PEN inspiration when killing your summons. Now the obvious weaknesses of the 2 weapons is that the major damage abilties go against fortitude, chillfog is only freeze damage, and maintaining an imp army can only go so far with their pitiful corrode damage PEN. In these specific situations, we can then fallback to the summon meatshield wall of chanters while we pick off targets to gain focus and grind them down via cipher spells or switch to another weapon with another kill effect (although not as strong as Grave Calling but they are "good enough"). We also still have the options from chanter and cipher abilties to lower defenses for the weapon's abilities to land. Some freeze immunes like rime constructs still are vulnerable to the paralyzing effects of chillfog so even if you do no damage, the enemy is prepped to be killed via other means. POST 2.1 - Auto skellies instead and dump SA on enemies while chillfog taps them for focus. While the fire lash chant is great for focus gain, the build does not use it because SA gets countered if your summon is benefitting from the fire lash chant for some reason. In this build, I've opted to use 2 chants: 1. Life Leech Chant: Since you will be doing a lot of damage on trash and hitting your weak defense summons, this chant works great as a healing option. In times of desperation you can back away and "tap" your minions to recover. 2. Skelly Summon Chant: This frees up phrases that would have been used to initiate battles with summons to allow different invocations to be used. Unlike the invocation skellies, the bodies of these skellies can be used for corpse explosion if you are fast enough to trigger it before the body disappears. OTHER NOTES: You do not gain focus from hitting your own summons even with confuse just to be clear with it. There is also a bit of mental micro of needing to know, which blade is being used when auto-attacking your summons. This build also makes use of the Magran belt. While the additional burn damage is nice for minor focus gain, the primary reason is to gain a chance to summon a fire elemental whenever you hit, which is a lot when you have several weapon aoes hitting mobs. The elemental will then serve as easy focus fuel in the midst of tougher or dwindling enemies. There is one really interesting caveat you need watch out for and that is the confused affliction. With the affliction, your aoe zones will damage you which will result in death if you don't have the defenses to get out or survive it if you happen to be in the thick of it. For this reason, INT and DEX resistances are recommended to have. It also serves as an amazing mechanic since now you can just summon your skeletons directly into the chillfog and have them blow up into a nuclear chillfog, which is pretty amazing to watch honestly if your computer can handle it. In a party, have some berserker caster or rogue put a controlled confusion on you for skelly chillfog bombs that would violate the Geneva Convention so hard. Having said that, a howler (berserker/chanter) can do this all by himself using Grave Calling normally. With the SA trick, you could also go double imp enchants for 2 imps for the price of one body. Keep killing your imps to generate more imps as long as you alternate hitting an enemy in between since hitting your own summons does not generate any focus for you. Using this trick, even a non-chanter can build up a ton of imps really quick that can fuel other types of mob builds, but chillfog is too good to give up for an imp. SUBCLASSES: Each chanter subclass has its perks in the build. Skald - Skeletons and wisps have really low defenses so hitting them will generate phrases really quickly, which then can be spent on discounted offensive invocations. Unfortunately it does not generate any phrases from chillfog or noxious blast. Troubadour - Not as bursty as skald's phrase generation, but a lot more consistent than beckoner for rapid phrase generation and helpful when retreating after enemies ripped apart your summons really fast. A skelly every 3 seconds from the skelly chant is also amazing for lazy summon fuel. Beckoner - The lowered HP of the summons helps for initial kills with SA. Even with the lowered duration of summons, a high INT build is still sufficient to be able to have summons constantly up and there is usually enough time to kill a few. It is however, tighter on resources on tough fights until level 19 where the skelly chant will free up some room to use phrases on non-summoning invocations and a bit difficult to use on lower INT builds. It also is the strongest nuclear chillfog subclass when using confuse affliction. Ascended - If you prefer autoattacking summons with just Grave Calling, Ascended works just as well, but this guide will be about Soul Blades since ascended builds perform similar to each other once hitting the ascended buff. RACES: Pale Elf - I chose pale elf to be more in line with the lore of being Rymgrand's BFF, but the real benefit of it is that the fire and freeze AR is extremely helpful when finding several summoned fire elementals chasing your character around or a sudden intellect affliction has the character in the middle of a chillfog deathzone. Wood Elf - Same stats as Pale Elf, but gives a free dexterity resistance. Human - Can be useful in a party since the accuracy boost and damage boost from being bloodied is easier to maintain and control, but you will have to forgo using the life leech aura. CULTURE & BACKGROUND: The White that Wends for perception since accuracy is the highest priority in the build. Matches with the whole RP thing too. You're free to choose whatever though. ATTRIBUTES: SKILLS: WEAPONS & MODALS: ABILITIES: +Good / ?Notable / -Bad EQUIPMENT: +Good / ?Conditional / -Bad

Sweeper Agent Class: Harbinger ( Streetfighter/Troubadour ) Difficulty: PotD+ Version: 2.0 Solo?: You can cheese a lot of stuff in solo PotD+ with a chanter (summons) and rogue (dot & run) granted you may have to make a few adjustments in skills and prep your fights, but the build is better appreciated with a party. (Sorry if this is long. I wrote it in a very general way.) DESCRIPTION: The Sweeper's main focus is an interrupt and utility build that is tuned more towards range, but it can handle well also as a midline melee. It does various sorts of things that I will like to call "sweeping" and in this particular build, the unique quarterstaff, "Street Sweeper" is part of the utility kit. The Streetfighter rogue subclass is very popular with the amazing bonuses received when it hits its requirements of being flanked and/or bloodied. A very popular way of achieving this is by using the blunderbuss modal to achieve the speed bonus, but in this build we are achieving this with the harbinger's advanced wisp summons attacking the harbinger with its distracting attack. Now that we have our own wisp battery triggering our "Heating Up" buff with its autoattacks, it gives a lot more freedom in using a wider selection of ranged weapons or meleeing a single target without the need of being surrounded. The wisps also serve 5 other functions: 1. Damaging you down gradually to bloodied (<50% health) for "On the Edge" dmg buff if you like to take it slow to bloodied range. 2. Use the 2nd wisp to act as a spotter that debuffs your target for sneak attack potential. 3. Chain interrupting the enemy with the wisp's interrupt active ability. 4. Being a decoy. 5. Supply another streetfighter ally with "distract" if they don't have super high defenses. If you have more than 2 streetfighters, you can do additional micro to hit additional targets. Technically you could delegate the wisp work to another chanter who then uses those wisps to fuel other Streetfighter hybrids opening up the way to some party combos, but I want to highlight the points for this build combo as a whole package. First Sweep: Sweeping gunfire (or blast! or strikes!). Not new to the hand mortar rogue builds, but using a weapon that has aoe capabilities like hand mortars or rod + modal allows the harbinger to apply its debuffs enmasse. Second Sweep: Sweeping them off their feet (Interrupts) The harbinger's active skills come with a degree of interrupt depending on the grade of the attack. To further supplement the kit, many weapons have modals and crit effects that can keep the enemy from doing stuff efficiently and I'll mention some of these weapons at the weapon section of the guide. The energized buff you can get allows crits to interrupt so it could possibly work with other weapons, but the buff upkeep can be taxing so it is mostly used only when extra PEN is needed. Wisps are your strongest interrupt as they can chaincast their interrupt skill to eat up a massive stack of concentration and lock down even the toughest of enemies like dragons. Third Sweep: Street Cleaning - Buff countering The streetfighter has access to many types of afflictions, which can be very beneficial to countering the buffs of enemies granted they are not immune to the counter. Some hard enemies have no timer on their buffs and require its respective counter to strip them off it. An example is using blind to strip the enemy of the perceptive buff, which then lowers their hit and crit chances on your tank. For other buffs with durations, this is were the quarterstaff Street Sweeper's buff clearing feature shines. For other notable cleaning options the war bow, Veilpiercer, has a chance to clean buffs and even has a on-rest skill that can strip out all duration effects in a tiny area. Fourth Sweep: Cleansweep - Situational AoE burst Chanters have a skill, "White worms writhed in the bellies of the dead," (that I will just refer to as "Corpse Explosion"), where it will detonate a single downed enemy and inflict crush damage within its average radius. The upgraded version of the skill, "Their Putrid Stench Wafts Across", has its tooltip only state that it now applies a long lasting sickened debuff. The upgraded version now blows up every body within the massive targeting circle that now covers nearly the entire screen thanks to the high INT of the build. Even if the target circle does show red in the middle (hazardous aoe), it doesn't actually affect your team at all. It even can target your dead skeletons from the skelly chant if you are fast enough to cast it before its corpse disappears. No reason to not clean those floors up. Assuming you are not facing crush-immune or ridiculously high Reflex enemies, this skill makes having a bunch of downed enemies into a cheap nuke that can escalate into a deadly cycle. I usually like to spend Sasha's Singing Scimitar's free empower point here on trash. Alternatively, with the streetfighter's' fast recovery coupled with a high arcana skill you can machinegun expensive scroll nukes if you have the resources as a last resort. (edited) TIP: Turn off gibs in options so they don't get chunked when they die and not leave a body. Optional Sweep: Minesweeper. With its high perception, you can turn this character into your mechanics monkey and have it sweep the floors for traps. Other notes: It is worth mentioning that I made this build with a skillset to achieve a decent enough PEN to circumvent most enemies with stupid high armor (~15-17AR). I chose Troubadour over Skald since PotD+ diminishes Skald a bit and Troubadour is a lot more consistent. Skald is very good in lower difficulties, but be aware that its phrase gain from crit only applies to melee crits. GAMEPLAY: Open up with Artierial Strike if you have it. Summon your wisps and have them attack you. Stay in the Troubadour's Brisk Recitation modal for the "Energized" buff if you want to use a weapon with no passive interrupt or need the extra penetration for an enemy. If you can comfortably damage with your current penetration or don't need a lot of soft interrupts, turn off Brisk Recitation to have your party benefit from double linger chants. This method is easier since now you only need phrases to resummon wisps and don't suffer from inconsistent chant buffs. Apply all relevant debuffs if enemies are clumped up nicely and you can stay in aoe mode if it is more beneficial for damage. I like to save some rogue power in case I need situational buff countering or to escape since the build is meant for countering/utility and not damage output. With the opener done, Send one wisp to assist you in picking off enemies and/or possibly micro wisp to lock them down if they are extremely dangerous. Once a few enemies are down and the remaining survivors are close to the bodies, detonate them and repeat the process. In case you are using phrases to debuff enemies (Armor debuff invocation) or chaincasting corpse explosions, I recommend going back into Brisk Recitation modal to regain phrases quickly to upkeep your wisps. DISADVANTAGES: If built for more damage by dumping RES and CON, the obvious weaknesses of being squishy applies. The biggest disadvantages of a build with low RES is a deflection rating where enemies will often start chasing you down and the increased durations of debuffs with long timers. Having the harbinger with a long INT affliction can be annoying as it will go about and interrupt your backline. Other things like very long dots with low CON can threaten you if not watched carefully so dedicate a few quick slots to recovery items. Considering that you need to manually autoattack with wisps to make the build work and maintain buffs, it requires a bit of micro that can't be scripted. If you are soloing and having wisps tank and interrupt, prepare for micro hell. If you are playing with a full party on lower difficulties, the burst damage from other classes may leave you with not much to play with. RACES: Human - For fighting spirit synergy when you want to live on the edge. (Used in playthrough) Nature Godlike - Starts with ideal stats. If you prefer a power level over the helm slot using energized to achieve your buff requirement. Has interesting perk with Heart Chime amulet. Elf - Starts with ideal stats. Aumaua - About the same with elves. Hearth Orlan - To squeeze out that extra crit chance with a party. Dwarf - If you plan on using Aamina's Legacy a lot. ATTRIBUTES: My playthrough stats as a Human including background and without Berath's Blessing: (8/8/18/18/19/7). A bit of space to go glass cannon and buff out stats with blessing. MIG - Low/High. If more interested in crits and interrupts then make this "Low" since DEX/PER are better for that path. If deciding to be more of a glass cannon then dump RES/CON and make this "High". CON - Low/Dump. Not too keen on dumping this all the way since a little bit of an HP buffer for self-damage and midlining is helpful. DEX - High. Hey look! It's a DEX chanter. It does nothing for accumulating phrases, but it helps with everything else allowing more actions you can do within your "buff" windows. Depending on your weapon setup, you can get away with less. PER - High. Helps for criticals and landing abilities in early PotD. You can do with less in lower difficulties, but it still is very useful in finding hidden items and traps. You also need a bit to offset the perception affliction's -5PER penalty. In most cases this will probably be maxed in PotD. INT - Maxed. Your most important stat for increasing the duration of summons, buffs, and debuffs allowing less downtime with having to reapply. As a troubadour, you will clip your double chant lingers at some point, but more INT is always good for everything else. RES - Low/Dump. Lowering this helps the duration of the "distract" affliction to last longer for streetfighter to work, but it also increases durations for every other affliction. Too little also makes enemies peel off often to try and get you if your melee can't engage them all, but that is what skelly chant is for :D. SKILLS: Arcana - If you plan on using Spearcaster a lot, then this should be the skill to take. It also greatly helps to make certain hard encounters easier via scroll nuking. Alchemy - Great mileage for self-buffing and healing options. Athletics - Other than being useful for events, it is an okay lazy heal button after taking a bad hit or self-sustaining your hp pool when it gets dangerously low. Mechanics - BONUS RP! If you want to get extra sweepy then make them into your mechanics monkey. Stealth - Handy for ambushes and general roguing. Metaphysics - If you plan to use Chromoprismatic Staff and/or Animancer bow a lot, this skill should be your main passive skill. History - Can be useful if you plan on using The Giftbearer's Cloth. CULTURE & BACKGROUND: This part is flexible, but you will want one that has the main attributes and skills listed above. In my playthrough I took Old Vallia for INT and the Artist background because the Street Sweeper quarterstaff kind of looks like a gigantic paintbrush that paints their enemies dead on the canvas that is the ground. Kaboom! Art. WEAPONS & MODALS: +Good / ?Notable / -Bad ABILITIES: +Good / ?Notable / -Bad EQUIPMENT: +Good / ?Conditional / -Bad

Class: Street Fighter/Troubadour Race: Human or Fire Godlike Background: Aedyr - Hunter DIfficulty: PotD Solo: No Descriptor: This build using key gear, Persistent Distraction, and Chanter phrases simultaneously boosts the player's defenses and Armor Rating as they take damage in order to stay in the Bloodied state (required by Street Fighter) with relative safety. Simultaneously it focuses on doing most of its damage via DoTs so you can hit an enemy once, and watch it die while you focus on the next enemy. You have one CC, a couple of buffs, and a great deal of debuffing in your Phrases. All enemies Engaged with this Tank do less damage, and because Persistent Distraction lowers Perception they are Distracted and Flanked for Sneak Attack damage. Combined with Phrase The Long Night's Drink which lowers their Con by 5, might by 2, and reduces healing by 50% the enemies die easily, and they do very little damage as a fight wears on. Late game Rogue ability costs mean nothing with the Brilliant Inspiration. So, you can spam away, and do so very quickly while flanked and/or Bloodied. Starting Attributes: Might: 10-12 Constitution: 10-12 Dexterity: 10 Perception: 16 Intellect: 17 Resolve: 10 These are where I have the attributes set, but you could lose some Perception for Constitution or what have you. Using Blunderbuss modal made early game build whiff too much for my liking. Abilities by Level: Hel-Hyraf, Dull the Edge, and Crippling Strike Escape Arms Bearer Killer's Froze Stiff, Blinding Strike Weapon and Shield Dirty Fighting The Shield Cracks, Riposte Ancient Memory Strike the Bell Silver Knight's Shields, Persistent Distraction The Long Night's Drink Confounding Blind Deep Wounds, Seven nights Ring the Bell The Bride Caught Their Ruse Imp. Critical, Her Courage Thick as Steel The Bride Slew Each Kill fed his Fury (this and The Bride Slew can be swapped for Reny Darret's Voice for a Fear debuff) Set to Their Purpose, and Deathblows This doesn't matter, but I went with Accurate Empower for Rogue abilities. Weapon Proficiency in order of priority; Blunderbuss Spear Shield (I went with Medium) Sabre/Sword/Club/Flail Gear: Primary Gear is Stalker's Presence (Spear found in Sayuka) Reckless Brigandine (Early on Blood Links works pretty well) Entonia Signet Ring The Undying Burder (belt) Nerian's Ward (Medium Shield) Death's Maw (good early and can be swapped out later in the game) Sasha's Singing Sabre Modwyr Etc. After this grab good versions of some of the other weapons you are proficient in. Early on you want a Spear and either a blunt or Slash weapon equipped along with a Blunderbuss for an opening volley with its modal on. Combat Skills: Alchemy (this is your primary Skill) Stealth (this is your secondary, and will be prioritized later in game) Athletics (just a point or two because if you go too much higher it will bring you out of bloodied state) Notes: Spear Modal + Shield + Persistent Distraction + The Silver Knight's Shields = a lot of Engagement. Persistant Distraction causes enemies to be Distracted thus gaining -5 Perception and the Flanked affliction. The Long Night's Drink add Weakened to enemies (-5 con and -50% healing recieved) and it adds -2 Might. These 2 are your Bread and butter Phrases from level 11 on. Ring the Bell, Stalker's Presence, and Deep Wounds = a lot of DoT damage being applied to your target. They melt fast if RtB lands. Seven Nights is just a mob clearer for bigger fights, and since it is a pbAoE it gets anyone you're engaged with. Flail Modal + Seven Nights for more stout targets. Club Modal to help ensure Killers Froze Stiff lands on crucial targets. Modwyr for fun. Scout the enemies to ensure you have the best weapons in your arsenal equipped. Reckless Brigandine + Nerian's Ward + Undying Burden + Entonia Signet Ring all either increase damage and/or saves and AR as you become more injured. This makes sitting in the Bloodied pocket easier. Use Second Wind and switch to a Chant including Ancient Memory or Old Siec to keep you close to the ceiling of Bloodied so that you don't get gibbed. You don't want to rely on healing from Priests, Druids, etc because they usually over heal you. Targets with high Deflection get Confounding Blind or Hel-Hyraf in order to bring them down. If you land Confounding Blind then attack with one of your ranged as well to ensure you stack the Deflection Debuff and they will melt. Early game, you leave Brisk Recitation on since you only have 1 phrase. When you get Ancient Memory you can start to swap it on and off. Then when you get to level 11 you tend to leave BR off in order to maintain 2 buffs at all times. If targets are immune to Weaken then have a Chant Ready for Dull the Edge/Her Courage Thick as Steel + The Silver Knight's Shield. The idea is maximum Engage + debuffs. Use Buffs to start combat, CC's debuffs to help reduce incoming damage, and use Seven Nights/Rogue DoT's to clean up. Swap to Sasha's Singing Sabre (if equipped) for an Empowered Seven Nights. This will let you follow up with another Chant, or get your started back to casting Set to Their Purpose again. Set to Their Purpose is your OP way of ensuring everyone is Blinded or has Ring the Bell DoT applied to them. It's the gift that keeps on giving. Riposte is there because if you aren't Bloodied/Flanked you have the chance of tossing out some damage with your slow Street Fighter recovery times. Some of the smaller fights it can be hard to get Heating Up going. If you want to do more damage go Human, and if you want to counter how squishy early game can be then go Fire Godlike. Chants in late game: Ancient Memory and Her Courage Thick as Steel. The Long Night's Drink and The Silver Knight's Shield The Silver Knight's Shield and Her Courage Thick as Steel. Ancient Memory and The Silver Knight's Shield. You won't use Dull the Edge once you get the other 4 Chants. At least I didn't. Use 1 or 4 to build health back up. Use 2 and 3 to Debuff. So, you tend to slowly switch back and forth between these depending on the situation. Pros: Easy Deathblows later game. This combined with Deep Wounds, Stalker's Patience, and Ring the Bell means you just have to hit once or twice on a target. Fair CC/heal support Solid Tank/DPS late game. Cons: Street Fighter attack speed penalty when you can't get bloodied or flanked. Somewhat Squishy early on. Blunderbuss modal turns off when you weapon swap. So, at the beginning of combat make sure it is on. Summary: That's the thrust of the build. It is really fun, and late game an absolute wrecking ball. Early on it may require babysitting a bit. I hope you all enjoy it. I have. EDIT: Alchemy is predominantly for poisons and buffs, but also for big heals if needed in a boss fight or a fight with a ton of enemies. Stealth increases Stalker's Presence DoT, and that is why you toss some late game points in there. EDIT: This is an update for version 1.1 where Brilliant has been removed thus making Set to Their Purpose not desirable. The only real difference is in talent selection on the Chanter side of things. Replace The Bride Caught Their Ruse and Her courage at levels 15 and 16 with Reny Daret's Ghost spake and Ben Fidel's neck was exposed. Replace Set to their Purpose at level 19 with Her Tears Fell Like Rain or one of the Empower Upgrades.