[WIP] Marauder Build for a Principi Character (Stats/Abilities/Equipment)

[Cyrus_Blackfeather]

Hey guys, 

 

Working on slowly putting together a Marauder build for my pro-Principi character to coincide with Beast of Winter content in a few days. I wanted to share what I had so far to get your feedback on things. This is a heavy WIP, with pretty much every aspect open to change. Please, break this build apart at the subatomic level and tell me what works and what doesn't. 

 

This is a character intended for heavy Principi roleplay - he's a pirate, who's all about adventure, plunder, and sailing the biggest and most well-outfitted ship he can get his hands on. He's got a heavy leaning toward the Newbloods for their more chaotic freewheeling philosophy, but that might change depending on what I learn in game. 

 

Blessings: Bonus skills/attributes, 5000 starting gold (I'm the hecking Watcher of Caed Nua!), then either the special item merchant in Port Maje or Fine equipment to start. 

 

Race: Human (For the extra Bloodied bonus), though I've also considered Pale Elf (In case there's extra dialogue for them in the next expansion) for the extra armor. Fire or Death Godlike are also good choices, but losing out on the helm slot kind of sucks. 

 

Class: Marauder (Berserker/Streetfighter)

 

Culture: Deadfire (Or Old Vallia) - Deadfire's picked for dialogue choices mostly. Old Vallia is a bit more lore-appropriate. 

 

Background: Aristocrat (For more dialogue choices as well as a point in every talky skill) or Raider (If Deadfire, for flavor)

 

Skills: Alchemy (For potions, poisons, and drugs) and either Mechanics (For lockpicking/traps) or Stealth (For tricky theft) for actives/Insight and Intimidate as passives. Both to 10 and then party assist, invest in Streetwise as well. 

 

... Probably going to go with Mechanics so Serafen will shut up about his fingers. 

 

Attributes: 

 

Might: 15 (10 Base +1 Human +1 GotM +2 Berath's Blessing +1 Permanent Stat Boost) 

Con: 12 (8 Base +1 Effigy's Resentment (Durance) +1 Chameleon's Touch +2 Berath's Blessing)

Dexterity: 13 (9 Base +1 Deadfire +2 Berath's Blessing +1 Chameleon's Touch) 

Perception: 20 (18 Base +2 Berath's Blessing)

Intellect: 20 (18 Base +2 Berath's Blessing)

Resolve: 15 (12 Base +1 Human +2 Berath's Blessing) 

 

 

Using the Deadfire Speed Calculator reveals that, with Streetfighter bonus and FFrenzy both up, the difference between 12 Dexterity and 18 Dexterity when dual wielding melee weapons is 0.3 seconds. 15 Resolve is picked because, well... from a roleplay perspective I feel like a pirate character should have somewhat of a strong will. They should also be strong physically, of course, but 15 Might already IS pretty strong. 

 

Biggest question: How bad are the penalties for failing the "Mental intrusion" style Resolve checks? I've always played with either tanky, high Resolve characters, or Cipher multis who had some protection through their dialogue options. I know the Spindle Man tries to steal a secret from you, but then you have the opportunity to resist (Unsure if this is a Resolve check) and give him one of your choice. 

 

Basically, 5 Resolve or lower is classified as "Timid," and I wanted to know how close the game adheres to that, or if I'll be allowed to shape my character in my own way. 

 

Alternatively, I've considered taking the points out of Resolve, dropping it down to 7 (So that it'll at least be neutral) and putting them into Constitution. This gives much more of an HP buffer, and means I stay in Bloodied longer without risking getting knocked out nearly as much. 

 

HP with current CON and Tough: 386 at level 20

 

HP with 5 extra Con and Tough: 460 at level 20

 

... Yeah, I think almost 80 extra HP is worth lower Deflection, especially since I'll have pretty high armor rating anyway... 

 

Keep in mind, this is calculated with the extra 10% from GotM and Durance's Effigy's Resentment boon. 

 

Abilities: 

 

Level 1 - Frenzy/Crippling Strike

Level 2 - Blooded
Level 3 - Escape
Level 4 - Barbaric Blow/Two Weapon Style
Level 5 - Dirty Fighting
Level 6 - Blinding Strike
Level 7 - Confounding Blind/One Stands Alone
Level 8 - Bloodlust
Level 9 - Thick Skinned
Level 10 - Spirit Frenzy/Persistent Distraction

Level 11 - Withering Strike

Level 12 - Unflinching
Level 13 - Barbaric Smash/Deep Wounds
Level 14 - Tough
Level 15 - Uncanny Luck 
Level 16 - Toxic Strike/Brute Force
Level 17 - Interrupting Blows
Level 18 - Slippery Mind
Level 19 - Deathblows/Blood Thirst
Level 20 - Spirit Tornado

 

These are all subject to change. Spirit Frenzy/Spirit Tornado are taken with the assumption that I'll be relying on Heating Up moreso than On the Edge, so ensuring Bloodied is more important than ensuring Flanked AND Bloodied. This way I can debuff enemies around me as well, ensuring more chances to land Deathblows. 

 

If I were to change anything, I'd want to find a way to put Debilitating Strike into the build, though I'm not sure if that's necessary as Persistent Distraction more or less does the same thing to the enemy I'm focused on. 

 

Gear: 

 

Weapons: Magran's Favor and Rust's Poignard for mid-late game. Extra fire explosions, with raw damage against Flanked targets (And with Persistent Distraction, they'll always be flanked). Really, I'm not set on any particular set of weapons, and don't mind experimenting with a bunch of them to see what sticks. 

 

Armor: DoC Breastplate. Even though it requires making a slightly gamey decision, it still gives +4 class resource to dual martial classes, which is easily among the best buffs in the game. That's not even getting into the immunity to Intellect afflictions it grants, and the armor bonuses aren't half bad either. Kind of a tricky steal though, but manageable with Serafen, who I'll have by that point. 

 

Helm: Death's Maw for extra damage reduction each time I kill something. Things should be dying a lot. Ergo, it should be pretty useful. 

 

Belt: Nature's Embrace for the extra armor and the Woodskin effect on being crit, or the Upright Captain's Belt for immunity to push/pull effects and free Concentration (I'm not sure how much Concentration helps melee characters though)

 

Cloak: Cloak of Greater Protection (+10 all Defenses except Deflection) and then either keep it or upgrade to Nemnok's Cloak once that's available. 

 

Gloves: Bracers of Greater Deflection: +7 Deflection more or less negates the -10 from Frenzy on its own. Unless that scales with PL too, for some reason. 

 

Rings: Chameleon's Touch (For +1 to two attributes and two skills) and Ring of Greater Regeneration (To help offset the health loss from Frenzy somewhat). Voidward might also be a good choice to reduce the Raw damage a bit. 

 

Boots: Boots of the Stone, for resistance to Might afflictions as well as a little extra Dexterity and Resolve, upgrade to Rakhan Field Boots later on. 

 

Amulet: The Protective Eothasian Charm isn't bad early on, but can't really keep up at later levels. I'm not sure what else I could use. Precognition seems like an alright choice. 

 

And that about sums it up! Keep in mind, this is very rough and subject to change, and I've included a few adjustments I'm considering already. Please look it over, and feel free to share your experiences with similar builds. I'm definitely going to have plenty of tanky party members, and a dedicated healer, to support this. 

Edited July 30, 2018 by Cyrus_Blackfeather

[Dorftek]

Heh u must soon be beating Boeroer in total words written on this forum

[Cyrus_Blackfeather]

Haha, probably. 

 

Though honestly, at least Boeroer posts new stuff every so often and doesn't just make adjustments to the same builds. 

[Dorftek]

I was just kidding

It's a good thing that ppl are posting and discussing, otherwise how fun would a forum be?

[Cyrus_Blackfeather]

True! Barbarian builds are also one of my personal favorites. 

[Dorftek]

Yeah I've been thinking about starting a barbarian/unbroken soon and stack engagement slots and use gear and weapons that benefit from it. Such as kapana tanga (I think that's what it's called) and the Warhammer from sandswept ruins and probably also reckless brigantine.

[thundercleese]

Regarding the "Mental Intrusion" style checks; as far as I've seen there's no penalty to them, and in fact you're generally better off not resisting (some of them are interesting and/or funny). With Serafen you get insight into his past, relative to the current conversation; with the Spindle Man the "secret" he steals is that you are the Watcher of Caed Nua, you came from the Dyrwood, you are from <insert culture here> and you are in Deadfire chasing Eothas - you can even ask for a secret in return (tells you about the undercity). As far as I know it's impossible to resist his probing if you tell him that the other traders aren't happy with him; even Serafen can't keep him out. I haven't played a Cipher though so that may work.

 

Are you planning to activate Heating Up by getting flanked or bloodied? If the latter then Unflinching is probably a waste. If you can fit it in, I'd also recommend Wild Sprint; great for repositioning or escaping a dangerous situation, and the Lion's Sprint upgrade currently applies its +15 accuracy bonus until the end of combat - though this will likely be patched at some point. Uncanny Luck is pretty minor, I typically treat it as a "nothing else remotely attractive" pick.

 

Regarding weapons, other than RP and/or if you plan to use a lot of explosives, I don't really think Magran's Favor is the best pick. Spears are quite powerful, especially in the hands of a rogue; sabres are always a good pick as there are good ones throughout the entire game; Modwyr is always a decent pick, will even let you pick up con resist on DoC BP instead of int. Also, if you don't mind pumping Religion (probably goes against your RP), you could consider Xoti's Sickle - stacking damage buff per kill, attack speed buff when near a slain enemy, +3 def.

 

Finally I would recommend you consider the Voidward ring to help reduce your frenzy dot, and Abraham for the life on kill.

[Cyrus_Blackfeather]

Regarding the "Mental Intrusion" style checks; as far as I've seen there's no penalty to them, and in fact you're generally better off not resisting (some of them are interesting and/or funny). With Serafen you get insight into his past, relative to the current conversation; with the Spindle Man the "secret" he steals is that you are the Watcher of Caed Nua, you came from the Dyrwood, you are from <insert culture here> and you are in Deadfire chasing Eothas - you can even ask for a secret in return (tells you about the undercity). As far as I know it's impossible to resist his probing if you tell him that the other traders aren't happy with him; even Serafen can't keep him out. I haven't played a Cipher though so that may work.

 

Are you planning to activate Heating Up by getting flanked or bloodied? If the latter then Unflinching is probably a waste. If you can fit it in, I'd also recommend Wild Sprint; great for repositioning or escaping a dangerous situation, and the Lion's Sprint upgrade currently applies its +15 accuracy bonus until the end of combat - though this will likely be patched at some point. Uncanny Luck is pretty minor, I typically treat it as a "nothing else remotely attractive" pick.

 

Regarding weapons, other than RP and/or if you plan to use a lot of explosives, I don't really think Magran's Favor is the best pick. Spears are quite powerful, especially in the hands of a rogue; sabres are always a good pick as there are good ones throughout the entire game; Modwyr is always a decent pick, will even let you pick up con resist on DoC BP instead of int. Also, if you don't mind pumping Religion (probably goes against your RP), you could consider Xoti's Sickle - stacking damage buff per kill, attack speed buff when near a slain enemy, +3 def.

 

Finally I would recommend you consider the Voidward ring to help reduce your frenzy dot, and Abraham for the life on kill.

 

Alright! I forgot to put a pet slot in, so that's a good catch. Do you think I ought to dump Resolve for Con then? That 80 extra HP is pretty nice. 

 

I'll definitely pick up Wild Sprint and upgrade it to Lion's Sprint. No harm in having extra movement abilities. 

 

I had planned to activate Heating Up primarily through being bloodied, simply because I think it's easier to manage than being Flanked, and lets me pick things like Spirit Frenzy and One Stands Alone without worrying about knocking myself out of Flanked. So I'll probably drop Unyielding for something else, then... Plus I kind of need to be Bloodied for Slippery Mind to work. 

 

That said, would it be safer to focus on activating it through Flanked? 

 

Also, does Abraham also give the Recovery reduction based on armor type that Cutthroat Cosmo does? I looked at the pet listing, and it seems like that's his ability, plus the "Life on kill" one. 

 

Edit: Like I said, I'm not 100% on any particular weapons, I just know I'll be dual-wielding. The Stalker spear and Rust's Poignard would be a pretty good combination, especially with Deep Wounds, but there's also Modwyr, several really good sabres, Duskfall, and whatever comes out of Beast of Winter - I'm hoping for a lot of really good weapons. 

Edited July 31, 2018 by Cyrus_Blackfeather

[thundercleese]

 

Regarding the "Mental Intrusion" style checks; as far as I've seen there's no penalty to them, and in fact you're generally better off not resisting (some of them are interesting and/or funny). With Serafen you get insight into his past, relative to the current conversation; with the Spindle Man the "secret" he steals is that you are the Watcher of Caed Nua, you came from the Dyrwood, you are from <insert culture here> and you are in Deadfire chasing Eothas - you can even ask for a secret in return (tells you about the undercity). As far as I know it's impossible to resist his probing if you tell him that the other traders aren't happy with him; even Serafen can't keep him out. I haven't played a Cipher though so that may work.

 

Are you planning to activate Heating Up by getting flanked or bloodied? If the latter then Unflinching is probably a waste. If you can fit it in, I'd also recommend Wild Sprint; great for repositioning or escaping a dangerous situation, and the Lion's Sprint upgrade currently applies its +15 accuracy bonus until the end of combat - though this will likely be patched at some point. Uncanny Luck is pretty minor, I typically treat it as a "nothing else remotely attractive" pick.

 

Regarding weapons, other than RP and/or if you plan to use a lot of explosives, I don't really think Magran's Favor is the best pick. Spears are quite powerful, especially in the hands of a rogue; sabres are always a good pick as there are good ones throughout the entire game; Modwyr is always a decent pick, will even let you pick up con resist on DoC BP instead of int. Also, if you don't mind pumping Religion (probably goes against your RP), you could consider Xoti's Sickle - stacking damage buff per kill, attack speed buff when near a slain enemy, +3 def.

 

Finally I would recommend you consider the Voidward ring to help reduce your frenzy dot, and Abraham for the life on kill.

 

Alright! I forgot to put a pet slot in, so that's a good catch. Do you think I ought to dump Resolve for Con then? That 80 extra HP is pretty nice. 

 

I'll definitely pick up Wild Sprint and upgrade it to Lion's Sprint. No harm in having extra movement abilities. 

 

I had planned to activate Heating Up primarily through being bloodied, simply because I think it's easier to manage than being Flanked, and lets me pick things like Spirit Frenzy and One Stands Alone without worrying about knocking myself out of Flanked. So I'll probably drop Unyielding for something else, then... Plus I kind of need to be Bloodied for Slippery Mind to work. 

 

That said, would it be safer to focus on activating it through Flanked? 

 

Also, does Abraham also give the Recovery reduction based on armor type that Cutthroat Cosmo does? I looked at the pet listing, and it seems like that's his ability, plus the "Life on kill" one. 

 

Your deflection is never going to be great due to low base and the frenzy malus, so yeah con should make you tougher than res. However having high con makes it harder to get down to bloodied. But then it also gives you more room for errors while bloodied.

 

Both methods have their cons. Being flanked generally means being surrounded, and if they all hit you at once you can easily go down. Being bloodied means you're already halfway down, combine that with the fact you can't see your exact health and your low deflection and it can get a bit sketchy. For boss fights your only option is really bloodied, whereas for general fights I'd probably start by getting flanked, then when you notice Heating Up change to On the Edge (or Blooded activates) use an escape skill, have your tank pick them all up, then reengage.

 

You can also put a few points in Athletics and set your AI to use when near death. Need to make sure it's low enough that it doesn't restore you above 50% though.

 

Yes, Abraham is the other armor recovery pet, so generally speaking if you're not a gun heavy party he's the better pick. The downside of course is that his heals could potentially bring you out of bloodied, though a couple ticks of frenzy (or a single hit from an enemy) should get you back down.

[pstone]

Nice build! Don't have much to add since i didn't play marauder so far, but i think you should definitely pick the bonus merchant over fine weapons & armor. The latter will become obsolete fast, but the merchant has some gear that will be useful for the whole game (at least for party members if you get better gear, but cloak of greater protection etc. is very rare).

Edited July 31, 2018 by pstone

[zczczc1680]

If you don't mind playing with custom adventurers, it is easy and safe to activate Heating Up by getting flanked.

Hire a Berserker/cipher, max PER, use frenzy to confuse himself then use Phantom Foes on your main character. Mission complete if hitted.

[Haplok]

Well, one other option is to stand inside Chill Fog.

Or the infamous Blunderbuss Powder Burns modal.