[Class Build] Arcane Fury

[arkane83]

Arcane Fury

 

Difficulty: Veteran 

I tested this on veteran, should be fine for PoTD. I will test this as my watcher on my next PoTD run.

 

Class: Warlock (No-Subclass Wizard / Berserker)

 

Race: Human

 

Attributes:       No Blessing (Blessing)

Might:             14 (16)

Constitution:    8 (10)

Dexterity:        16 (18)

Perception:      16 (18)

Intelligence:    16 (18)

Resolve:           8 (10)

 

Skills:

Level 1: Fleet Feet & Frenzy

Level 2: Barbaric Yell

Level 3: Blooded

Level 4: Infuse With Vital Essence & Barbaric Blow

Level 5: Two-Handed Style

Level 6: Thick Skinned

Level 7: Combat Focus & One Stands Alone

Level 8: Bloodlust

Level 9: Bloody Slaughter

Level 10: Ironskin & Spirit Frenzy

Level 11: Barbaric Shout (or Roar)

Level 12: Savage Defiance

Level 13: Citzals Spirit Lance & Barbaric Smash

Level 14: Leap

Level 15: Rapid Casting

Level 16: Martial Caster & Brute Force

Level 17: Improved Critical

Level 18: Accurate Carnage

Level 19: Citzals Marshall Power & Blood Thirst

Level 20: Savage Courage or Spirit Tornado

 

Weapon Proficiencies: Staff and Pike

 

Skills: Athletics (for second wind) + Metaphysics

 

Description: This is a fairly straightforward melee oriented warlock which I have used as a hired adventurer.  I took almost no wizard spells because grimoires essentially give you access to every spell in the game. I tried this with all barbarian subclasses, and honestly the berserker was the best for me because I always run in a party with a healer (or two). If running solo, corpse eater is a very intriguing option for the self healing, but the higher rage costs are really harsh in fights vs non-consumable enemies. No-sub is your best bet if you don’t like the raw damage over time.

 

Gear is fairly simple. You will be conjuring weapons the majority of the game, so you will want weapons which compliment what you summon. I carried Cadhu Scalth and Modwyr as one set and WotEP as my second set.  I always carried 2 or 3 spare grimoires and swapped as needed. For armor I recommend fleshmender or devil of caroc. One of the weapon sets this build uses is Modwyr, but it won’t get the benefits of this weapon once you conjure your weaponry. For this reason, Devil of Caroc becomes very attractive. If using Devil of Caroc, you may want to give Modwyr to someone else (I hate fampyrs…). Voidward is really useful for reducing frenzy raw damage. Helm of the Falcon is also great, since we have fewer ways to boost two handed weapon speed.

 

As far as gameplay, you start almost every fight with infuse, any other buffs you feel you need BESIDES frenzy, then cast frenzy, then cast your conjured weapon (conchealhaut early, then citzals).  Infuse, Fleet Feet, Iron Skin, Frenzy, Citzals, for example. The reason or the casting order is that you want max int for all of your buffs. Frenzy will strip away your int inspiration unless you counteract confuse. Devil of Caroc breastplate (if available with your history) is an easy way to accomplish this.  Leap into the fray, barbaric shout to help hold the melee line, and barbaric blows to finish off enemies.

 

You also have the option to use this build as an aoe nuker (which I did plenty of times). My secondary weapon set was Modwyr and a large shield.  When in “nuking mode” just swap to this set, buff up (minus the conjure) and start nuking away. You will find yourself casting quite fast, and with the benefit of tenacious from Berserker! On some encounters, you may want to start with your sword and shield, cast a nuke in stealth, and then proceed to buff and engage in melee. This character is really diverse and gives you lots of gameplay options!

 

Wizard lets you literally focus on your other MC and passives with no real detriment to the build. The major downside to this is micromanaging your grimoires, but I found that to be a non-issue. I enjoyed using this as an adventurer, and am planning to make this my next watcher for 2.0 and the DLC. 

Edited August 2, 2018 by arkane83

[1TTFFSSE]

I think in PotD the best warlock "strat" is to get 1 injury and get the special rekvu helm, grimoire and cloak.  Attack in melee while casting wall of flame on yourself and occasionally a fireball which will all heal you because of the cloak and damage enemies.  Maybe not the grimoire as it's spell selection is less than ideal but definitely the cloak. 

[Boeroer]

@OP: yeah nice. It's the other way around compared to my momentary MC who uses mostly nukes (after some levels) and plays like a "light" tank.

 

@1TTFFSSE: Shh! Posting a build around that soon.

 

By the way: the damage of Wall of Flame ist not enough to heal you. 10% of such low damage ticks usually get rounded to 0. Nuking yourself with Fireballs and stuff is neat though. I can get away with wearing cloth armor (for the style).

 

While the Casque can be obtained rel. early the cloak comes pretty late - so you need an alternative approach before using that "trick".

[mant2si]

I think in PotD the best warlock "strat" is to get 1 injury and get the special rekvu helm, grimoire and cloak.  Attack in melee while casting wall of flame on yourself and occasionally a fireball which will all heal you because of the cloak and damage enemies.  Maybe not the grimoire as it's spell selection is less than ideal but definitely the cloak. 

When I first time saw that cloak I thought that was a joke but it's really make you immune to fire, same as helm that make you immune to interruption

Edited August 2, 2018 by mant2si

[Boeroer]

Yeah - like Deltro's armor can make you immune to shock damage. Just different triggers.

[arkane83]

I think in PotD the best warlock "strat" is to get 1 injury and get the special rekvu helm, grimoire and cloak. Attack in melee while casting wall of flame on yourself and occasionally a fireball which will all heal you because of the cloak and damage enemies. Maybe not the grimoire as it's spell selection is less than ideal but definitely the cloak.

That isnt even specific to a warlock. Sounds like any wizard should grab that cloak for some self healing fireball and firewall cheese.

 

That being said, I ran this as an adventurer on veteran. I had two paladins in the party, one of which was a herald. Plenty of access to healing.

 

This guy kinda felt like a swiss army knife. I need some elemental damage? Nuke away. I need another tank? Leap in, shout for 3 engagement slots, and go to town.

 

You eventually get up to 3 sources of concentration, and self wounding for the helm isnt that important. (Depending on grimoire and level 20 choice). For most of the game the automatic concentration was enough. Again though, veteran. On PotD I can see the merits to this... but damn that helm feels cheesy.

 

One thing I left out of the write up is how amazing spirit frenzy can be. May apply to more types of attacks than it should, and will probably get nerfed

Edited August 2, 2018 by arkane83

[schedge]

Could someone clarify how the interaction with Nemnok's Cloak and the fire spells (Fireball or Wall of Fire) works? I'm not entirely sure I understand where the healing comes from.

[arkane83]

Could someone clarify how the interaction with Nemnok's Cloak and the fire spells (Fireball or Wall of Fire) works? I'm not entirely sure I understand where the healing comes from.

https://pillarsofeternity.gamepedia.com/Rekvu%27s_Scorched_Cloak

 

This cloak. Have someone cast an acid spell (rash when knocked out) on you to knock out once in a safe out of the way area. You want a low grade injury. Then in combat, Fireball self and win

Edited August 3, 2018 by arkane83

[Boeroer]

Better you nuke yourself to KO with Fireballs/Wall of Flame after resting (out of combat). You will get a severe burn which will lower your burn AR by 3 points - which is totally irrelevant in this case because you will be immune to fire damage, even heal from it. Acute Rash is also not bad, but in this case I think Severe Burn is better - and you have the fire spells at hand, so...

[arkane83]

Better you nuke yourself to KO with Fireballs/Wall of Flame after resting (out of combat). You will get a severe burn which will lower your burn AR by 3 points - which is totally irrelevant in this case because you will be immune to fire damage, even heal from it. Acute Rash is also not bad, but in this case I think Severe Burn is better - and you have the fire spells at hand, so...

I think I got used to using acid from other builds and a certain helmet.

[mosspit]

Pair up with this for more oomph

 

[Dorftek]

Pair up with this for more oomph

 

Yeah that one is absolutely perfect with the cloak. Also one could multi with a chanter or stand near a chanter if one isn't soloing for the 13% dmg dealt to healing chant. 10% of the fire dmg hitting you will heal u and 13% of all dmg hitting the enemies will also heal u. Sadly no healing modifier will increase the healing you receive. I tried making a build as a chanter/wizard around this cloak and the chant and I stacked a whooping 150% healing mod on him and it did nothing, so mission failed