A fun glass cannon solo potd build

[mrcuddles]

I recently completed a solo potd run with a build that I wanted to share because I found it fun and interactive to play. You have lots of options available and can die in a couple of hits so it's quite a thrilling experience. I don't like avoiding combat because to me it's the most fun part of the game. Therefore,  tried to kill everything I could just to see if it could be done and it turns out that it can be done.

 

This build is just my suggestion. I am sure there are other ways to build it but the core is effective and most of all fun. As with all builds you probably want to take different skills earlier so you have more options then respec later into the "final build".

 

 

tl;dr

 

Make the enemies attack your pet, throw bombs, kill the enemies and your own pet, make a new pet, bravely run away, shoot arrows, kill everything.

 

 

Class

 

Rogue (Assassin)

Ranger (Ghost Heart)

 

You need your pet to tank for you so I chose Bear as my animal spirit but Boar probably works too.

 

 

Race

 

Hearth Orlan is probably the "correct" race due to the hit to crit conversion on enemies your pet is engaged with. I went with Island Aumaua because among the waves fits the theme of this elusive character and the +2 might helps too.

 

 

Attributes to focus on

 

• Perception
• Might
• Dexterity

 

 

Active skills

 

• Explosives
• Explosives
• Explosives
• Explosives
• Explosives

 

 

Weapons

 

• Aamiina's legacy - A high damage bow that sometimes stuns on hit and does some crush damage too. I used this one most of the time because it's a heavy hitter on a single target and your explosives mostly handle the aoe side of things. Also this is a hunting bow and therefore has the rapid shot modal. You have high accuracy so although I haven't done any actual calculations I suspect this weapon gives you the highest dps. Plus it looks cool when you fire  loads of arrows one after the other like legolas.
• Frostseeker - Good against groups because it does aoe on crit but everybody already knows how good this bow is so I don't need to go on about it. It also adds a different damage type
• Veilpiercer - Destroys spirits and does some raw damage. There's a 50% chance to fire a second attack immediately on scoring a crit but I did some comparisons and most of the time Aamiina's legacy seems to do more reliable single target DPS. However, the purging volley upgrade strips all beneficial effects from a target so is great against highly buffed targets.

 

Equipment

 

• Head - Blackblade's hood for the +perception and hit to crit conversion
• Neck - Precognition for the +crit damage
• Cape - Ajamuut's stalking cloak for +damage, +accuracy and stun from stealth
• Armor - Fleshmender for the +1 weapon set, extra armor which regenerates, and the Health regen
• Hands - Firethrower gloves for the +dexterity and +explosives
• Ring 1 - Chameleon's touch for the +dexterity and +perception
• Ring 2 - Ring of greater regeneration for the health regen
• Belt - The maker's own power for the +might and reforge the flesh ability which is a lifesaver
• Feet - Bounding boots for the leap ability which is incredibly versatile
• Pet - Harley for +10% damage and +3 accuracy to ranged attacks

 

 

Skills

 

Rogue

 

• Escape
• Arterial Strike
• Deep pockets
• Adept evasion
• Shadowing beyond
• Deep wounds
• Deathblows

 

Ranger

 

• Shot on the run
• Defensive bond
• Stalker's link
• Driving flight
• Survival of the fittest
• Superior camouflage

 

 

Early game

 

This is where you get good at kiting and pet aggro management. It's quite slow at first and you need to play it safe. It doesn't take long to become powerful though.

 

 

Explosives

 

This build lacks aoe and especially aoe status effects so we use explosives. We also use our pet to group up the enemies and throw explosives on top of our own pet. With a high explosives skill even cinder bomb does huge damage. Grenades do raw damage so are always useful and lightning bombs are expensive to craft but amazing in terms of Crowd control and damage. Cinder bombs give the blind and flanked status effects so trigger the death blows passive. Cinder bombs are great in all situations so if you're low on money focus on those.

 

 

Ingredients

 

You need to go on regular shopping runs to support your explosives addiction. Luckily you can get most of the ingredients you need from the hunter in queen's berth (specifically spices for cinder bombs), the herbalist and the dark cupboard in periki's overlook, and Una the gem merchant in Serpent's crown. Spice is also sold by Enarat in Delver's row. You do a shopping trip then wait for 24 hours and they restock their inventory. Repeat until your addiction to blowing things up is satiated. The only ingredient I couldn't find a regular supply of was oil and if anybody knows of such a merchant then please comment.

 

 

Ghost heart

 

Your pet gets hit a lot, and dies a lot. Luckily the ability to summon your pet has a 0.5 cast time, 0 recovery, and only costs 1 bond. Ghost heart pets are immune to engagement so can be moved around without taking extra damage. Ghost heart is probably the most reliable summon in the game and is great for solo play in my opinion. The summon skill does have a short range though, so you'll need to be careful. In fact I don't take any other ranger skills at all so I can create an endless army of ghost bears.

 

We often throw explosives directly on top of our pet because if you manage the aggro well he will have all the enemies crowded around him. This is why defensive bond is good, because when you move in to throw explosives, your pet gets higher aoe defense and sometimes doesn't get murdered by it's master.

 

 

Pet management

 

You want to stay away from your pet while it collects aggro. If an enemy looks like he is moving past the pet, quickly attack with the pet. The enemy AI seems to hate breaking engagement and often stops dead in it's tracks. Position your pet in choke points where possible and if the choke is wide then you can move your pet around a bit to try and anticipate enemies who might want to break off and go for you. Here's an example of soloing nemnok by managing the pet well and using the environment. This was honestly a really tough fight clearing this room and I don't want to talk about it because it was traumatic.

 

Early on your pet dies a lot so keep track of it's health and pre-emptively summon another one. You can summon directly on top of the existing pet so as not to break up the enemy deathball. Otherwise summon, then run your character away while moving your pet back in to collect aggro. Here's an example of using your pet to control the enemies and also shows the versatility of leap (from bounding boots) to avoid traps and move aggro back to your pet.

 

 

Combat

 

Ideally you start fights from stealth by attacking a high priority target with arterial strike. Then summon your pet before running, leaping or shadowing beyond away while collecting aggro in a chokepoint with your pet. Use of chokepoints is of utmost importance, as is messing with the enemy AI by presenting your pet as the better target. When they are grouped up you throw bombs until everything dies. For smaller groups you don't need explosives as you do a lot of single target damage with high crit chance. Explosives are expensive to craft so you need to save them where possible. Frostseeker also does decent aoe damage on crit.

 

You can also throw a sparkcracker from stealth, and throw a couple more explosives of your choice on the grouped enemies before stealth breaks. This is another option for starting a fight.

 

If you can't start a fight from stealth then it's the same principle really. Here's an example of a scripted fight where you can't initiate from stealth. It also shows how to use the pet in a chokepoint and managing aggro. Here's an example of a fight where I got spotted and had to fight while already surrounded. These two examples show how you can use chokepoints, your maneuverability, and your pet aggro management to salvage a non-perfect start to combat.

 

Some of the harder fights can take a long time and you run out of resources for skills. This is when we try to reset the fight by using the 3 guile points we saved for shadowing beyond. Try to kill one or two of the enemies between each reset.

 

 

How to not die

 

You're a total glass cannon. You don't want to get hit at all if you can help it. You definitely never want to be in melee range. Be ready to use leap or shadowing beyond to escape and try to save 3 guile just for such an emergency. You can also just run with your high stride and +defense to disengagement attacks. Most fights you can reset by shadowing beyond then running away and waiting for the enemy to go passive again. This doesn't always work so then it becomes time to kite. You can kite very well with your high stride and dexterity and your pet running interference. This is also why Arterial strike is a good skill for this build because they take damage while they chase you.

 

If you get hit by a ranged attack or aoe you will notice it hurts a lot. This is because you are a glass cannon. However your regen items help in longer fights by healing up after you get hit.

 

 

Feedback

 

If you have any feedback on how to make this build better, or any suggestions at all then let me know. I'm not really into min/maxing and basically fumbled my way through this build after chatting to a guy on twitch who suggested it was fun. I can't remember your name but you were right mate. You were right.

 

 

Next up

 

Currently attempting a trial of iron run as a ghost heart/transmuter wizard (with alchemy focus for poison usage and poison type spells). I've already nearly died 3 times. It's stressful but in a good way. https://www.twitch.tv/barrypickles if you want to watch.

 

 

[mant2si]

While this consumable based build, and you get your accuracy from Ghost Heart part, you can always replace rogue part with any other class which will increase your damage and bombs effective, for example you can take Skaen priest, you will has same invisible spell that you need to remove aggro from your character + a lot of buffs + fine AOE spell which can do +500 damage when empowered

Or you can always choose berserker +2 to penetration, +2 armor, +30% HIT to CRIT, Recover on Kill, AOE attack which you can use unlimited time (this multi-class can solo PotD first island very, very easy)


 

[mrcuddles]

Yea I have no doubt it can be improved but this is a build I had fun with. I'm going to try skaen priest soon thanks for the advice.

Edited June 28, 2018 by mrcuddles

[knownastherat]

I've seen the OP streaming this build, though just parts where it was already over-leveled, and I can confirm its very effective and kind of interactive.  However, I would question two components, maybe three.

 

As an alternative to Assassin, Streetfighter could be the better option in general. As an alternative to MIG, INT since durations could be more beneficial since rogue has huge damage bonuses already, and as an alternative to Explosives, Explosives/Alchemy combo for obvious reasons and since there is a way to enable AoE attacks/inflictions with a firearm.  Maybe even Explosives/Alchemy/Arcana combo, for some fun combinations and options. 

Edited June 27, 2018 by knownastherat

[mrcuddles]

I've seen the OP streaming this build, though just parts where it was already over-leveled, and I can confirm its very effective and kind of interactive.  However, I would question two components, maybe three.

 

As an alternative to Assassin, Streetfighter could be the better option in general. As an alternative to MIG, INT since durations could be more beneficial since rogue has huge damage bonuses already, and as an alternative to Explosives, Explosives/Alchemy combo for obvious reasons and since there is a way to enable AoE attacks/inflictions with a firearm.  Maybe even Explosives/Alchemy/Arcana combo, for some fun combinations and options. 

 

I know it's not really min/maxed but I honestly think I found it fun because it's not overpowered and you have to think a bit. It's just fun. Thanks for watching and thanks for your comment.

 

I'm going to try a skaen priest like the guy above suggested after my trial of iron run is over.

[mant2si]

I've seen the OP streaming this build, though just parts where it was already over-leveled, and I can confirm its very effective and kind of interactive.  However, I would question two components, maybe three.

 

As an alternative to Assassin, Streetfighter could be the better option in general. As an alternative to MIG, INT since durations could be more beneficial since rogue has huge damage bonuses already, and as an alternative to Explosives, Explosives/Alchemy combo for obvious reasons and since there is a way to enable AoE attacks/inflictions with a firearm.  Maybe even Explosives/Alchemy/Arcana combo, for some fun combinations and options. 

Streefigther will be good choose, to keep yourself flanked use Blunderbuss passive (you don't need to attack enemies, enough to attack your companion), in second hand take scordeo this will increase your speed much more, while you will stay > 4 meter from enemies you will use only pistol to attack enemies, which mean you can get +50% + ~35%  base recovery bonus, with this bonuses you don't need dexterity, max INT + Perception/Const, I also offer to use hand mortal as blunderbuss, it will make all enemies distracted 100% of time when you need distraction affliction

[Marigoldran]

Try blunderbuss with artery strike.  

Edited June 27, 2018 by Marigoldran

[knownastherat]

With Scordeo's I would even go to melee (I've tried it) from time to time just to change the pace and finish off enemies resistant to pierce/slash. I tend to agree the build is a glass cannon and ought to be played as such, but with extra weapon sets, why not use some of the very cool and effective melee weapons one collects when the companion is tanking? With Explosives/Alchemy/Arcana spread and ranged/melee capability with decent passives, the possibilities for approaching encounters are many. AoE, DoTs, Stuns, Pulls/Push, anything goes. Overall very versatile build, unlike one trick ponies some other builds necessarily end up with.   

Edited June 27, 2018 by knownastherat

[Dorftek]

This is literally the first character I soloed to 20 :D

One small difference tho, I used two blunderbusses as weapons because I simply love then!

 

This is a lot of fun to play.

[mrcuddles]

Thinking about the feedback I'd agree that assassin is perhaps not the best choice because you don't really benefit from it that much. No subclass or the other two rogue subclasses should also work fine.

 

For my characters I like to do a bit of minor rp where I have a personality in mind., This guy is a traditionalist hunana deadfire native who wants to fix everything by himself and uses bows because they are traditional. He doesn't trust these new fangled guns.

 

I used a scepter quite a lot early on and even at the 8m range you still attract more aggro than you can handle. The extra distance on the bow made sense to me in that regard. However without assassin you'd be much less of a glass cannon so that would work out I think. 

 

I'm not really selling this build as optimized of min/maxed, just sharing it to spread the word that it's fun and theory crafting how to make it better.