Help with Thug build (crossbowman)

[Frog Man]

Always wanted to build a powerful version of one of the back alley thugs you’d run into in Delver’s row or Ondra’s Gift. A leather armor wearing, club or dagger wielding, crossbowman. Appreciate any help you can offer!

 

In other words, what’s the best single or multi I could go for to make a mean crossbow wielder?

 

My thoughts so far are sharpshooters garb, high dex and per, and maybe the spearcaster? Certainly will pair him with a chanter for sure handed ila.

 

Appreciate your contributions!

Edited July 21, 2018 by Frog Man

[dbarbarian14]

Maybe for a classes you can go for Marauder (Rog/Bar) or Shadowdancer (Mnk/Rog) as they feel the most extreme and thug like. Also a Scout (Rng/Rog) with a boar sounds cool.

[Loren Tyr]

I'd say thematically Marauder fit's best, with Shadowdancer and Swashbuckler a good joint second. Alhough of course mechanically Barbarian hasn't the greatest synergy with ranged characters (it's good fun with Rods though), and you can't really use any of its subclasses with it (also, Blood Thirst doesn't work with crossbows or firearms, forever killing my dream of machine-gunning an arquebus). 

[Dorftek]

Assassin/Ghostheart would be my pick

[Frog Man]

Assassin/Ghostheart would be my pick

Sounds like a lot of fun! Does assassin require a lot of micro? I’m

Assuming you need to restealth after shots to get the big bonus attacks right?

[Loren Tyr]

There might be some micro involved, yeah. Though on the other hand you don't have *that* many Smoke Veil activations (or invisibility potions) you can use in a single encounter. In that regard you probably should regard it more as an additional weapon in your arsenal rather than the main mode of attacking. It's best for doing burst damage with a good chance to crit and overpenetrate to something that is in dire need of some hurtin', but in particular in combination with some simultaneous secondary attack (poison, attack ability; or of course AOE attacks with spells or grenades) that can also benefit from at least the +25 ACC. You don't have too many, so have to make them count; and have something useful to do in between (though eg. a crossbow crit build will have that inherently, I'd say).

 

One thing to keep in mind with Smoke Veil is that it has a relatively short duration, and it also has recovery so the time you have to actually attack from invisibility is somewhat limited (hence why it's suboptimal with grenades; they almost all have a fuse, so you have to have good duration on Smoke Veil for it to explode while still invisible). In particular, if you use crossbows/firearms you have to make sure you've reloaded before you use Smoke Veil, so you do have to keep an eye on that (as far as I know, shift + activate while the reload icon is showing will properly queue an action to happen after reload is done, though).

 

If you're open to Assassin's though, you can also think about Helwalker Monk + Assassin, get some Dance of Death going to build ACC and wounds and build your Might bonus. In this case Smoke Veil also has added utility as an escape mechanism (as does Escape of course, but that doesn't make you Untargettable), which for that particular class combo you're going to need  . With any Assassin build it does feel like it's moving away from a real 'thug' vibe though.  

[Dorftek]

 

Assassin/Ghostheart would be my pick

Sounds like a lot of fun! Does assassin require a lot of micro? I’m

Assuming you need to restealth after shots to get the big bonus attacks right?

Just treat it as bonus on initial attack from stealth and don't play around it or it gets quite annoying and resource hungry

[arkane83]

 

 

Assassin/Ghostheart would be my pick

Sounds like a lot of fun! Does assassin require a lot of micro? I’m

Assuming you need to restealth after shots to get the big bonus attacks right?

Just treat it as bonus on initial attack from stealth and don't play around it or it gets quite annoying and resource hungry

Exactly this. You should open with your crossbow at nearly point blank with backstab from stealth.

[mrcuddles]

Assassin/Ghostheart would be my pick

 

I have a lot of fun playing this build. 

More info here: https://forums.obsidian.net/topic/103032-a-fun-glass-cannon-solo-potd-build/

[Dorftek]

 

Assassin/Ghostheart would be my pick

I have a lot of fun playing this build.

More info here: https://forums.obsidian.net/topic/103032-a-fun-glass-cannon-solo-potd-build/

Yeah, tho since then grenades have been nerfed quite hard. They still work tho but not nearly as effectively as before.

 

U did a pretty big write-up on that build, why not give it a name and PM it to Beoroer with a short description so it can be included in the build thread?

[Boeroer]

Scout + Spearcaster is nice. If you chose to use the Minor Missiles enchantment on Spearcaster you can make it proc more often with Driving Flight. Also rogue's afflictons get applied to secondary targets. Ghost Heart seems to be the best pick aesthetically because a thug won't have his bear running around in a back alley all the time.

 

Assassin sounds nice, too. As others said: if you just use the Assassinate feature as a bonus from stealth it's no micro increase at all.

 

I wouldn't pick Chanter just because of Sure Handed Ila. Since you can already have Acina's Tricorn, Gunner and Sharpshooter's Garb (or Miscreant's Leather) + Cosmo you wouldn't notice a huge difference with Sure Handed Ila due to how speed bonuses stack. Not enough to give up Rogue's DoT strikes and Deep Wounds or Ranger's Driving Flight and accuracy.