SOLO POTD Build: The Cocoon Master

[Marigoldran]

Paladin (Darcozzi)/Druid (Lifegiver)

 

Max Int and Per for increased spell effect and accuracy.  Everything else is optional but don't dump any stats.   Use equipment to raise Dex for faster cast speed.

 

Key skills:

 

Druid Skills:

 

Touch of Rot

Insect Swarm

Beetle Shell (Important!)

MoonWell

Plague of Insects

Rot Skull

Nature's Bounty

 

Paladin Skills
Hand of Light (Lay of Hands upgrade)

Brand Enemy (Sworn Enemy upgrade)

Anything that improves your deflection/armor.

Virtuous Triumph.

Paladin Aura (upgrade for the one that gives regen over time)  

 

Passives:

 

Spirit of Decay

Rapid Casting

Weapon and Shield

Martial Caster

Stoic Steel

Practiced Healer

Paladin class defense Passives.

 

Equipment:

 

Patinated Plate in the early game.  And later, when you can get it, Blackened Plate from Splintered Reef.

 

Any good shield is fine.  Cadhu if you want survivability.  Xoti's lantern for accuracy.  

Weapon: Any.  

 

Start combat with Zealous Aura for accuracy bonuses.

Spam 1-2 Brand Enemies to get the fire DOT going.

Cast Hands of Light to provide healing and concentration.

 

At this point, the enemy should have swarmed you.

 

Cast first AOE DOT spell on everyone around you.  Don't worry if it hits you, too.  You'll have more than enough healing to sustain it.

Cast Moonwell for defenses and healing.

Cast Hand of Light for concentration.

Cast Second and Third AOE DOT spell on everyone around you.

Switch to Exalted Endurance 

Cast Beetle Shell.

 

Set combat speed to max and watch your enemies die from the DOTs inside your 200-point damage shield.

 

And that's it. When you get Rot Skull it's even better.

 

What's great about this build?

 

Effective from the beginning to the end.   Great survivability and easy to use.  

Edited June 26, 2018 by Marigoldran

[Hoo]

This thread had been written quite long time ago when the last version was not released yet, however, I've read this accidently and looks somewhat interesting. Frankly speaking, I do not remember how many things had been changed comparing with the latest patch's, and I honestly think this would not work on the current patch because the xxx-pt shield doesn't scale at all and the Beetle Shell only provides 200-pt, which is quite small from mid-late game. 

 

But, the concept, protecting yourself with some shieldy-like ability and spam DoT into enemies, seems funny. Is there any good alternative of this build? Or, something improving this one? 

[Not So Clever Hound]

20 minutes ago, Hoo said:

But, the concept, protecting yourself with some shieldy-like ability and spam DoT into enemies, seems funny. Is there any good alternative of this build? Or, something improving this one? 

You can for example use a Mindstalker, apply True Lover's Kiss + Gouging Strike + Toxic Strike + Pernicious Cloud + Disintegration + maybe Plague of Insect Scroll on an enemy, then use Scrolls of Withdraw with high Arcana to let the DoT's do their job. I solo'ed a portion of the FS Oracle Fight that way, to soften the Oracle while conserving some Guile.

Any toon with high Arcana can use Scrolls of Insect Swarm/Plague of Insect etc then a Scroll of Withdraw. Of course, you can try to do that naturally with a Priest/Druid too!

EDIT: you could also use a Forbidden Fist to apply the curse before landing all those DoTs for even greater effect! E.g. Toxic Strike with extra duration = ouch.

Edited August 25, 2021 by Not So Clever Hound

[Hoo]

12 minutes ago, Not So Clever Hound said:

You can for example use a Mindstalker, apply True Lover's Kiss + Gouging Strike + Toxic Strike + Pernicious Cloud + Disintegration + maybe Plague of Insect Scroll on an enemy, then use Scrolls of Withdraw with high Arcana to let the DoT's do their job. I solo'ed a portion of the FS Oracle Fight that way, to soften the Oracle while conserving some Guile.

Any toon with high Arcana can use Scrolls of Insect Swarm/Plague of Insect etc then a Scroll of Withdraw. Of course, you can try to do that naturally with a Priest/Druid too!

Thank you!

By the way, it seems quite weird why Withdraw is even better than Beetle Shell, even though the latter requires higher level to acquire... The purpose of both abilities looks the exactly same, but Withdraw has longer Duration, better Cast Time (it has been mitigated by BPM though), and even the mechanism is way better; Comparison between Untargetable + HP restored and xxx-pt Shield is nearly... impossible and nonsensical imo. 

Are there any *unique* or better situations when the Beetle Shell works better than Withdraw?... I cannot imagine such case at all......

Edited August 25, 2021 by Hoo

[Not So Clever Hound]

3 minutes ago, Hoo said:

By the way, it seems quite weird why Withdraw is even better than Beetle Shell, even though the latter requires higher level to acquire...

Yeah Withdraw is very good. As @Powerotti or @Boeroer mentioned you can also use it on a Furyshaper ward to protect it. Nice!

4 minutes ago, Hoo said:

Are there any *unique* or better situation when the Beetle Shell works better than Withdraw?... I cannot imagine such case at all......

I don't think so, but if you have space to maneuver, invisibility is even better (e.g. Smoke Veil). Go give a death sentence to something with a ton of DoTs, Smoke Veil to safety, repeat. With a Mindstalker I was regularly handling tough enemies by opening with Gouging Strike Arquebus shot, Then Toxic Strike Arquebus shot (immediate reload at combat start) then Disintegration, using Smoke Veil at the end and sometimes in between attacks. Very very few enemies can survive that for more than a few seconds. And at the end, Gouging Strike always wins .

[dgray62]

I agree, an assassin MC with smoke veil would give you much more fun and dynamic gameplay. Casting DoT spells and withdrawing would become very boring quickly, for me at least. Not So Clever Hound's mindstalker build is great if this interests you.

[Not So Clever Hound]

Thanks, @dgray62.

@Hoo if you're interested:

 

[Hoo]

18 hours ago, Not So Clever Hound said:

Thanks, @dgray62.

@Hoo if you're interested:

 

Thank you! I'll look into it! Assassin is the one of my favorite concept indeed.