[Final Copy] "The Company Man" Ranged Mindstalker (Assassin/Ascendant) for Heavy Immersion Company RP

[Cyrus_Blackfeather]

"I've a knack for turning lead into gold."

 

I'm baaaack! 

 

This build has gone through a lot - and I mean A LOT - of drafts over the past few weeks, as I've debated various changes, tested a few things, banged my head against the wall, cried in the fetal position, and become so familiar with what Rogue and Cipher each get at various levels that I could probably recite it by heart if you asked me to. But now, it's done, and just in time for the Beast of Winter expansion (I think I'll be waiting until next week to see what changes they intend to make in 2.0, if there are any class/equipment changes planned). 

 

So, without further ado, the "Company Man." He's intended to be played as a Faction agent, through and through, sent to the Dyrwood originally in a similar capacity to Pallegina, but obviously somewhat diverted by the whole "Hollowborn Crisis/Stop Thaos" thing. This iteration is designed as a VTC agent, but you can obviously tweak the race/culture to suit whichever of the Factions you choose. Old Vallia works for Old Guard Principi and VTC, Deadfire for Huana, Rauatai for RDC, and - well, really any culture works for Newblood Principi. 

 

Race: Any race works here, except perhaps Aumaua. My personal pick is Oceanfolk Human, though for a ranged build focusing on not getting hit, you won't be seeing Fighting Spirit very often, and if you are then you're in trouble. 

 

Class: Mindstalker (Assassin/Ascendant)*

 

*Why Assassin? Because Assassinate is still a pretty solid ability, even if it doesn't land on the second attack of a Full Attack. You can still use it to deliver powerful opening strikes from stealth (With an Arquebus or a Pistol) and then swap to dual Pistols for regular combat with the occasional Shadowing Beyond shot woven in. Trickster is a close second, as the defensive spells and debuffs it offers help to shore up low Deflection and, ultimately, make enemies easier to kill, at the cost of 10% Sneak Attack damage. 

 

Culture/Background: Old Vallia/Aristocrat 

 

Skill Focus: Stealth and Alchemy (Actives)/Insight and Bluff (Passives) 

 

Attributes: 

 

Might: 20 (15 Base +1 Human +1 GotM +2 Berath's Blessing +1 Permanent Stat Boost) 

Con: 10 (7 Base +1 Effigy's Resentment (Durance) +2 Berath's Blessing)

Dexterity: 18 (15 Base +2 Berath's Blessing +1 Chameleon's Touch) 

Perception: 21 (18 Base +2 Berath's Blessing +1 Chameleon's Touch)

Intellect: 20 (17 Base +1 Old Vallia +2 Berath's Blessing)

 

Resolve: 6 (3 Base +1 Human +2 Berath's Blessing) 

 

Abilities: 

 

Level 1 - Crippling Strike/Tenuous Grasp

Level 2 - Whispers of Treason (Retrain to Escape after clearing the Digsite)
Level 3 - Iron Will
Level 4 - Blinding Strike/Draining Whip
Level 5 - Mind Blades
Level 6 - Dirty Fighting
Level 7 - Secret Horrors/Confounding Blind
Level 8 - Finishing Blow
Level 9 - Puppet Master or Hammering Thoughts
Level 10 - Mental Binding/Shadowing Beyond

Level 11 - Bear's Fortitude
Level 12 - Withering Strike
Level 13 - Devastating Blow/Borrowed Instinct
Level 14 - Rapid Casting
Level 15 - Ringleader
Level 16 - Disintegration/Toxic Strike
Level 17 - The Empty Soul
Level 18 - Amplified Wave
Level 19 - Ancestor's Honor/Deathblows
Level 20 - Echoing Horror

 

The damage dealing spells are a bit of a tricky take, because you won't have the Recovery reduction from Streetfighter to allow them to be chain-cast. 

 

The abilities are more or less done, but if anyone has any ideas on how I could, say, work Two-Weapon style in there without sacrificing anything, I'd appreciate it. 

 

Gear: 

 

Weapons: The Kitchen Stove(MH)/Scordeo's Trophy (OH) - The Kitchen Stove, upgraded, gives you a per encounter AoE attack that can generate enough Focus for you to immediately Ascend. Scordeo's Trophy has some amazing enchants that help with Action Speed and Critical Hit damage. Also consider Thundercrack Pistol in another weapon slot for Storm Rune Shot and another quick bit of Focus gain. 

 

There's also something to be said for a Blunderbuss/Blunderbuss and Pistol/Pistol weapon set, perhaps with Serafen's dual Hand Mortars. The Blunderbusses can be used with Confounding Blind to strip Deflection before swapping over to the pistols for eliminating key targets. 

 

Pet: Cutthroat Cosmo for the recovery reduction and party-wide effect of 5% bonus damage with guns. Every little bit helps. 

 

Armor: Miscreant's Leathers is my personal pick for the 5% chance to just ignore an attack. Furthermore, when used with Cutthroat Cosmo, it just... doesn't have a Recovery penalty. Plus it looks stylish, and Blow the Man Down is easily my favorite quest for all of the ways you can solve it. I'm definitely open to other suggestions though. Maia's armor seems like it'd be good for the 20% hit to crit on dodging a ranged attack, but that requires... dodging a ranged attack. Plus it's a % chance to happen, not a guarantee. 

 

Helm: Acina's Tricorn is why this build doesn't work with Godlikes unfortunately, as well as why Miscreant's Leathers is my favorite piece of gear to go with it for style points. Get it, love it. 

 

Rings: Chameleon's Touch and Ring of the Marksman. Chameleon's Touch can be acquired on Neketaka (Though the bounty to get it can be pretty rough) as can Ring of the Marksman (Though this is VERY important, and I'm putting this here so I won't forget. You must pickpocket it off of the Rauatai Sailors as part of the Valera portion of the Family Feud quest. Depending on the character, you might or might not want to kill them). 

 

Cloak: Cloak of Greater Protection - It's like Giftbearer's Cloth for people who A: Don't need the extra weapon/quick item slot and B: Don't overindulge in History. 

 

Neck: Token of Faith (+2 Resolve) or Amulet of Greater Health (25 max Health) - Lots of not unique items here, but I can't really think of many good neck slot items I've come across. Cipher's Shackle could also work for the +Con and Dexterity Affliction resistance. 

 

Gloves: Bracers of Greater Deflection - They're bracers that deflect things. Both this and the Cloak are taken in the event that you might be hit eventually and that if you are, you probably want to make sure you're at least not crit and killed before you can teleport away. 

 

Belt: Belt of Eoten Constitution - Mostly so that your 10 Con becomes 12 Con. That adds an extra 21 HP. I'm not entirely sold on this one, so other Belt options would certainly be welcome. Maybe Gwyn's Bridal Garter for the added resistance to Dexterity Afflictions?

 

Boots: Boots of the Stone for Dexterity and Resolve, and Resistance to Might Afflictions.

 

The gear's pretty much a direct copy-paste from the older version of the build, but this is more or less done. Only things I'm wavering a bit on are...

 

1. Assassin versus Trickster (More Accuracy and Penetration on Invisibility attacks versus more Deflection and debuffs at a Guile cost)**

2. The abilities (Mainly, making everything that's good to take fit and making some executive decisions on what's not good to take). 

 

** I'm also collecting some feedback/trying to figure out what would be a good way to mod Assassin to make it a little more desirable. It seems the "Stealth breaks on first attack in a Full Attack" thing can't be fixed/is working as intended, so I've considered adding a scaling PL bonus to Poisons (Basically, how old!Alchemy used to work) or something of that nature. 

[Verde]

Trickster is more a ranged class than Assassin, no? Or do you plan on assassinating at close range? I guess it makes more sense from a RP perspective. I wish I could offer Assassin advice. Looking forward to seeing progress.

Edited July 23, 2018 by Verde

[Cyrus_Blackfeather]

Trickster is more a ranged class than Assassin, no? Or do you plan on assassinating at close range? I guess it makes more sense from a RP perspective. I wish I could offer Assassin advice. Looking forward to seeing progress.

 

You think? Don't you get Assassinate on Ranged attacks? I know Backstab you have to be within a certain distance of the target, but I think Assassinate works fine as long as you're in Stealth/invisible.

 

Admittedly, Trickster does address one of the bigger problems with this build - poor Deflection - while also giving some pretty substantial debuffs. The only thing I'm not too crazy about is the Guile I could be using for other Rogue abilities. Two Guile isn't nothing, especially without a good way to refresh it, or a set of gloves that gives an extra +2. 

 

Trickster also makes a tad more sense from an RP perspective as well, if you go Vallian with this character. The Vallians are a lot more interested in business pursuits as well as sabotage and counter-sabotage. I'd pick Beguiler to match, but I'd have to change some things around. Plus I like the extra PL and the ability to chain damage spells. 

[Verde]

Hmm good question re: Assassinate, honestly not sure!

 

I don't think the Assassin penalty is that bad tho. It just means you need to be more mindful - not entirely sure how it works from ranged.

 

I'm prob a broken record but I think Trickster got buffed immensely so much so it renders vanilla Rogue undiserable. Anyway, I think you can make Assassin work.

Edited July 23, 2018 by Verde

[Cyrus_Blackfeather]

Hmm good question re: Assassinate, honestly not sure!

 

I don't think the Assassin penalty is that bad tho. It just means you need to be more mindful - not entirely sure how it works from ranged.

 

I'm prob a broken record but I think Trickster got buffed immensely so much so it renders vanilla Rogue undiserable. Anyway, I think you can make Assassin work.

 

Trickster's definitely a good choice, yeah! Someone brought up a good point - it's like having a triple Multiclass with very slight drawbacks (70% damage instead of 80% damage with Deathblows, in addition to all of the other damage buffs I'll be getting), but you're basically a Rogue, Illusion Wizard, and Cipher. 

[Verde]

Yeah Trickster is like an Illusionist/Rogue. Let's hope Obsidian let's them be

 

My Trickster/Beguiler can handle about anything.

Edited July 23, 2018 by Verde

[Cyrus_Blackfeather]

Yeah Trickster is like an Illusionist/Rogue. Let's hope Obsidian let's them be

 

My Trickster/Beguiler can handle about anything.

 

Well, considering they buffed it, I'm sure they're not gonna touch it so soon afterwards. That wouldn't make a whole lot of sense. 

 

Hmm... Overall, I think Trickster might be a little more fun than Assassin, because it provides a lot more toys to play with. 

 

Not sure about Beguiler versus Ascendant though. 

Edited July 23, 2018 by Cyrus_Blackfeather

[Verde]

No it wouldn't.

[Cyrus_Blackfeather]

Trying to decide between Beguiler and Ascendant though. Beguiler would synergize with the CC powers, but Ascendant is better for the DPS powers. That said, the DPS powers probably aren't going to matter too much compared to Rogue weapon damage anyway... So maybe I should focus more on CC and go Beguiler, just to help me further lock stuff down. 

[grayrest]

Don't you get Assassinate on Ranged attacks? I know Backstab you have to be within a certain distance of the target, but I think Assassinate works fine as long as you're in Stealth/invisible.

You get assassinate on the first hit from stealth at any range (notably, not the second hit from a full attack) but the backstab talent is only within 2m. I saw a lot of Arqebus Holy Slayer Bleak Walker / Assassin builds posted in 1.1.

[Cyrus_Blackfeather]

 

Don't you get Assassinate on Ranged attacks? I know Backstab you have to be within a certain distance of the target, but I think Assassinate works fine as long as you're in Stealth/invisible.

You get assassinate on the first hit from stealth at any range (notably, not the second hit from a full attack) but the backstab talent is only within 2m. I saw a lot of Arqebus Holy Slayer Bleak Walker / Assassin builds posted in 1.1.

 

 

Ha... Haha. Yeah, I... kinda want to go dual pistols for the style/enchants. So Trickster might be better, for the dual-wield Full Attacks. 

[Haplok]

 

Hmm good question re: Assassinate, honestly not sure!

 

I don't think the Assassin penalty is that bad tho. It just means you need to be more mindful - not entirely sure how it works from ranged.

 

I'm prob a broken record but I think Trickster got buffed immensely so much so it renders vanilla Rogue undiserable. Anyway, I think you can make Assassin work.

 

Trickster's definitely a good choice, yeah! Someone brought up a good point - it's like having a triple Multiclass with very slight drawbacks (70% damage instead of 80% damage with Deathblows, in addition to all of the other damage buffs I'll be getting), but you're basically a Rogue, Illusion Wizard, and Cipher. 

 

 

Not quite. Base sneak attack scales with Power Level, so it's more like 100% sneak bonus damage at max level with deathblows vs 110% for Assasin (and 160% for Streetfighter).

You mention Guile cost for Trickster abilities. But if you want to use Assasinate more then once per combat, then its expensive also. I'm actually not sure that I'd even use Assasinate for weapon attacks. I'd probably use it more to open combat with something like Puppet Master or Ring Leader (with high land chance) from range, which would disrupt enemy ranks from the start.

 

And yeah, for such a character I'd probably go with Beguiler.

[Cyrus_Blackfeather]

 

 

Hmm good question re: Assassinate, honestly not sure!

 

I don't think the Assassin penalty is that bad tho. It just means you need to be more mindful - not entirely sure how it works from ranged.

 

I'm prob a broken record but I think Trickster got buffed immensely so much so it renders vanilla Rogue undiserable. Anyway, I think you can make Assassin work.

 

Trickster's definitely a good choice, yeah! Someone brought up a good point - it's like having a triple Multiclass with very slight drawbacks (70% damage instead of 80% damage with Deathblows, in addition to all of the other damage buffs I'll be getting), but you're basically a Rogue, Illusion Wizard, and Cipher. 

 

 

Not quite. Base sneak attack scales with Power Level, so it's more like 100% sneak bonus damage at max level with deathblows vs 110% for Assasin (and 160% for Streetfighter).

You mention Guile cost for Trickster abilities. But if you want to use Assasinate more then once per combat, then its expensive also. I'm actually not sure that I'd even use Assasinate for weapon attacks. I'd probably use it more to open combat with something like Puppet Master or Ring Leader (with high land chance) from range, which would disrupt enemy ranks from the start.

 

And yeah, for such a character I'd probably go with Beguiler.

 

 

Oh, does it? Neato. Also, yeah... Streetfighter's bonus damage is insane, but the amount of effort you have to put in to use it at range is really not a lot of fun, when you could be doing other things. 

 

As far as Assassinate goes, yeah - I didn't realize Shadowing Beyond was 3 Guile compared to 1 Guile from Escape, so Trickster - in terms of things to do - definitely outshines Assassin in that regard. Plus you can keep Escape unupgraded which saves a spot. 

 

... I suppose I wasn't as done as I thought!

 

Would Beguiler still be able to make use of Mind Blades, Amplified Wave, and Disintegrate or should I drop those for other stuff as well? 

[Haplok]

Not sure about Mind Blades on such a build. Not much can be done to raise the damage and can't really spam it either.

Disintegrate would definitely still be a worthy pick, just wouldn't see that much use due to Focus limitations - but could destroy some primary targets anyway.

Amplified Wave might be good enough to take also.

Edited July 24, 2018 by Haplok

[Dorftek]

Consider that fat kitchen stove AoE Thunderous report from stealth with the Assassin bonus. Trickster is a strong class but when u are going ranged with a very strong opener such as Thunderous Report I'd honestly go assassin instead. But both will ofc work great. Trickster add more survivability while assassin boosts ur Thunderous report opener by a lot. So consider what u want with this character and then decide.

 

I'd keep mindblades if you go Ascendant, it's a great spell when u have two to three targets.

Edited July 24, 2018 by Dorftek

[Cyrus_Blackfeather]

Consider that fat kitchen stove AoE Thunderous report from stealth with the Assassin bonus. Trickster is a strong class but when u are going ranged with a very strong opener such as Thunderous Report I'd honestly go assassin instead. But both will ofc work great. Trickster add more survivability while assassin boosts ur Thunderous report opener by a lot. So consider what u want with this character and then decide.

 

I'd keep mindblades if you go Ascendant, it's a great spell when u have two to three targets.

 

Mhmm! I'm working on seeing if I can mod a little something extra into Assassin, like say a scaling boost to poisons with PL, to make out of Stealth gameplay a little more enticing. Poisons are an essential part of the Assassin toolkit, obviously. 

 

Edit: Ultimately, I do wanna hit the big numbers, so Assassin is probably my best bet. Others have mentioned I can use Assassinate to land things like Puppet Master or Ringleader from stealth as well, to open up combat by breaking the enemy's formation. 

 

Also, how bad is Ascendant's -1 PL penalty when not at max focus for casting CC spells? How much does it reduce Accuracy by? 

Edited July 24, 2018 by Cyrus_Blackfeather

[thundercleese]

Also, how bad is Ascendant's -1 PL penalty when not at max focus for casting CC spells? How much does it reduce Accuracy by?

According to this thread PL adds +1 accuracy per level above the base. So only -1 in this case. You will also lose 5% additive duration, which may or may not matter depending on the spell.

Edited July 26, 2018 by thundercleese