[BUILD] The Tornado (Fighter/Monk)

[BalkothTheFeared]

Build Name: 

The Tornado
Subclass(es):

Devoted(Pollaxe)/Any Monk [brawler]

Short Description:
High attack speed in an area around the user, utilizes Mob Stance and Swift Strikes to cleave enemies and gain an even higher attack speed. 
Author: BalkothTheFeared
Game version: 1.02
Difficulty: POTD
Solo: No

 

 

So, what is this build? Well, it's all about standing in a pack of enemies and spinning like crazy in order to cause as much damage as possible! Utilizing the Wahai Poraga and your own fists, you can easily swap between a more defensive build or to an offensive build. Penetrating Strikes hits all enemies around you, or you strike fast with your own fists twice in a row. You can swap out Penetrating Strikes for a Knock Down in order to lock enemies down, activate your Defender modal and your Halberd Modal in order to gain +4 engagements if you want!

 

This was crazy fun to play, at the end of my run I dwarfed the damage output of all my companions. Striking all enemies in a circle around me, triggering Mob Stance to attack enemies, then using Swift Strikes to gain another attack when I critically hit. 

 

 

Recommended Stat Spread:

 

Recommended Races:

Elf or Orlan, We will need to max out Dex as much as possible, but the Orlan gets some good penetration. For my playthrough I used an Elf.

 

 

38 second video showing off the build on some low-level mooks:

 

 

 

 

Skills Selected:

https://imgur.com/a/vpzfywz

 

 

What items are needed?

 

 

These two are probably the most important bits of this build. The next are three armors that are extremely useful. With the exception of the Devil of Caroc Breastplate, your recovery time is actually going to be LOWER than not wearing any armor at all. Even even with the Devil of Caroc breastplace, it is only slower by 0.1.

 

 

Edited May 24, 2018 by BalkothTheFeared

[Tosho]

damn lol, nice.

[GamerSerg]

I love this idea and I may incorporate this into the Monk I have been planning for my next game. 

 

A couple questions...

 

1. You're switching between unarmed and the pollaxe, would you recommend taking both two handed and two weapon styles?

 

2. The cyclone aoe is awesome and probably better than a cone aoe but on the other hand that pollaxe hits friend and foe which could be a big issue in a party.   Would this work with any melee weapon that hits AoE, like maybe Whispers of the Endless Path?

[BalkothTheFeared]

1: If you look at the skills selected, I believe I do take both. I don't know if it's really "needed" but it makes the build speedier. You can do without the switching if you want.

 

2: I considered the Whispers but upon testing I found the Wahai Poraga to kill enemies faster because I can gather them all around me and just spin-to-win. I just had the rest of my party with ranged weapons and abilities to teleport away from me.

[Boeroer]

Nice. Can you tell me at which level (very roughly) you can obtain that pollaxe? I already found it via console some time ago and thought it was really nice, but since I have little time to play atm I couldn't find it during a playthrough yet.

 

I wonder what happens if you use it with a single Berserker' HoF...

 

I added your build to the build list.

Edited May 24, 2018 by Boeroer

[George_Truman]

Nice. Can you tell me at which level (very roughly) you can obtain that pollaxe? I already found it via console some time ago and thought it was really nice, but since I have little time to play atm I couldn't find it during a playthrough yet.

 

I wonder what happens if you use it with a single Berserker' HoF...

 

I added your build to the build list.

you can get it as soon as you get to nekketakka. Its supposed to be gated by a boss but you can just sneak by him.

[Boeroer]

Cool, thanks. I always wanted to run a pollaxe build.

[Voltron]

Wait, is this yet another Cleave + Swift Flurry build I see here? :D :D

 

Joking, cool build, I theorycarfted same one with that Halberd, but game feels cheesy just enough for me with just Fighter at this point :D. Though seems like every single build posted now including breaking game with Cleave + any other AOE like Swift Flurry/Carnage + AOE weapon like Whisper or Wahai.

Edited May 24, 2018 by Voltron

[dunehunter]

Wait, is this yet another Cleave + Swift Flurry build I see here? :D :D

 

Joking, cool build, I theorycarfted same one with that Halberd, but game feels cheesy just enough for me with just Fighter at this point :D. Though seems like every single build posted now including breaking game with Cleave + any other AOE like Swift Flurry/Carnage + AOE weapon like Whisper or Wahai.

 

Yeah I think it's like this, when u trigger Cleave you triggered 3 attacks with that pollaxe.

 

Also it's kinda similar with Swift Flurry + Frostseeker, actually any weapon hit multiple target can do the same combo with swift flurry..

 

But the REAL tornado, nice build :D

[BalkothTheFeared]

Wait, is this yet another Cleave + Swift Flurry build I see here? :D :D

 

Joking, cool build, I theorycarfted same one with that Halberd, but game feels cheesy just enough for me with just Fighter at this point :D. Though seems like every single build posted now including breaking game with Cleave + any other AOE like Swift Flurry/Carnage + AOE weapon like Whisper or Wahai.

 

I did the same thing without Mob Stance using a Streetfighter, there's no actual build as I was testing things around. I imagine that Paladin could be a good choice too.

 

[Frostoad]

Can a barbarian make good use of that poleaxe? Like the streetfighter from the bottom video.

[BalkothTheFeared]

Can a barbarian make good use of that poleaxe? Like the streetfighter from the bottom video.

 

When I did this initially, I did it with Barbarian. THe AOE already hits friends, so adding Berserker would be just fine. If you want to avoid Fighter/Monk, you can try Berserker/Streetfighter instead.

[Boeroer]

I would try single class Berserker just to check it out with Heart of Fury...

[baldurs_gate_2]

Where do you get the swift hunter's garb armor?

[Tommy1984]

 

Nice. Can you tell me at which level (very roughly) you can obtain that pollaxe? I already found it via console some time ago and thought it was really nice, but since I have little time to play atm I couldn't find it during a playthrough yet.

 

I wonder what happens if you use it with a single Berserker' HoF...

 

I added your build to the build list.

you can get it as soon as you get to nekketakka. Its supposed to be gated by a boss but you can just sneak by him.

 

 

I need to add one thing: You can not get this weapon on a "true" solo run, because due to a bug you can not pick up the second cornett for unlocking the area.

 

See here: https://forums.obsidian.net/topic/100120-bug-the-cornetts-call-dive-to-the-light-how-get-cornett-of-the-depth/

[knownastherat]

Indeed, I've been trying to get it several times on several runs with different stats (CON, Athletics, Survival) and solo character just will not dive in. Luckily ever sooner its possible to get this poleaxe https://pillarsofeternity.gamepedia.com/Lord_Darryn%27s_Voulge 

[baldurs_gate_2]

Indeed, I've been trying to get it several times on several runs with different stats (CON, Athletics, Survival) and solo character just will not dive in. Luckily ever sooner its possible to get this poleaxe https://pillarsofeternity.gamepedia.com/Lord_Darryn%27s_Voulge 

Hmm, i managed it one time to get it. I believe you need 16+ CON to do it.

[Tommy1984]

 

Indeed, I've been trying to get it several times on several runs with different stats (CON, Athletics, Survival) and solo character just will not dive in. Luckily ever sooner its possible to get this poleaxe https://pillarsofeternity.gamepedia.com/Lord_Darryn%27s_Voulge 

Hmm, i managed it one time to get it. I believe you need 16+ CON to do it.

 

 

If you play solo you can not choose a character for diving ... the dialog just closes. You need to recruit a companion/sidekick to get this option.

 

The same problem exists with the well next to the ruins on Poko Kohara and some other interactions.

[Archaven]

holy shieett... 

[BalkothTheFeared]

So, I have tested this in the 1.1 beta and it's still perfectly viable. The squishyness of playing a Helwalker like I am makes it a harder sell, but it's still doable.

[Boeroer]

Do you mean that Swift Flurry still chain-procs?

[BalkothTheFeared]

Do you mean that Swift Flurry still chain-procs?

 

It appears to, although Cleave obviously doesn't cause the amount of carnage you see in the video.

 

[Climhazzard]

Honestly can't even tell what is proccing off what from that screenshot.

Edited June 3, 2018 by Climhazzard

[PIRI]

You saw nothing AAAA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA.

 

Edited June 4, 2018 by PIRI

[Climhazzard]

Except heartbeat drumming is only supposed to proc off of crits, and it is shown after hits several times.  I'm assuming that the reason it's so powerful is because even the procs from swift flurry and heartbeat thrumming are AoE hits, but you can't really tell if they are chain proccing from that screenshot.

Edited June 4, 2018 by Climhazzard