[Character Build] Holy Slayer: "The Iron Reaver of Dunnage" - Heavy RP Principi Character for PotD (Rough Draft, Feedback Welcome)

[Cyrus_Blackfeather]

Hey guys: 

 

So, after receiving a bit of feedback about my Holy Slayer build, I wanted to present a more complete version taking into account some of the advice I received and giving a little more insight into the character I'm seeking to play. I'll start with that first.

 

What I want out of this is very much a tank character, with solid defenses and armor who's capable of holding the line against powerful enemy onslaughts. I want to go toe to toe with the Drake in the Engwithan Pit and come out unscathed. That being said, I want to put pressure on my enemies as well - while I realize that a Holy Slayer lacks the pure burst of a Marauder, I want to build myself in such a way that I get excellent sustained damage, while being able to set up Deathblows and reliably critically hit. 

 

From a roleplay perspective, this character is intended to be a Principi character with a fearsome reputation, notable for taking no prisoners when resistance is offered, so that when people see his colors on the horizon their first response is to surrender. He's heavily inspired by the Dread Pirate Roberts from the Princess Bride book and film. He's also notable for being quick on discipline, but willing to allow time for leisure - as long as the crew doesn't shirk at their posts, he's not above letting them do a bit of drinking and whoring at port. 

 

Dispositions... Aggressive, Cruel, Clever. Why? Because if I don't have SOME fun/snark as a Bleak Walker, I'm going to get bored and reroll again. 

 

Why the Principi? 

 

Why indeed? Honestly, because the Principi feels like one of the more well-fleshed out factions in the game. There's a definite sense of friction and hostility between Furrante and Aeldys, and they both have such dynamically different philosophies about how the whole "Pirate" game ought to be played that it really does feel like a big choice between them. Plus they have a whole town to themselves. 

 

The Race: Human (Oceanfolk, for the Old Vallia looks) - +1 Might/Resolve, and good aesthetic options. The racial ability is nice too, for a sturdier character. 

 

The Class: Paladin (Bleak Walker)/Rogue (Trickster)

 

- Trickster has so much going for it right now that the drawback more or less doesn't matter. Streetfighter tops it in terms of damage, but either requires getting Bloodied or Flanked, either one of which isn't a desirable condition for a tank. 

 

The Culture/Background: Deadfire/Raider (Mercenary also works, and has more dialogue options, but Raider fits more thematically). 

 

Skill Focus: Athletics and Mechanics/Insight and Intimidate (Athletics for Second Wind and Mechanics for lockpicking/trap-disarming, Intimidate for a piece of armor and for dialogue checks along with Insight for noticing things). 

 

Skill focus still needs a bit of work. I'm kind of bleh about hearing Serafen talk about how fat and furry his fingers are, so I don't like him having higher Mechanics than my Watcher. I also feel like there's a point where you don't need to invest any more in Athletics for Second Wind. 

 

Blessings: Attributes/Skills/5,000 Gold/Special Merchant

 

Attributes: Two different stat spreads. Please note - Resolve is NOT a dump stat for me. Period. From a roleplay perspective, and a tanking perspective, it's too important to keep low. Now! This might motivate my decision to play solo or not, if too high of a Resolve means the enemies are going to ignore me and run for my squishy party members - but I feel like they'd do that regardless. 

 

Alright, so if I go with +2 Might gloves, and the +1 Resolve pet, I was thinking about stats that look a little like this... 

 

20 Might (12 Base + 1 Human +2 Woedica's Strangling Grasp + 1 Chameleon's Touch + 1 Gift of the Machine +2 Berath's Blessing +1 Permanent Stat Boost)

13 Con (10 Base +1 Effigy's Resentment (Durance) +2 Berath's Blessing) - Effectively 25% extra Health

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

18 Perception (16 Base +2 Berath's Blessing)

17 Intellect (14 Base +2 Berath's Blessing +1 Strand of Favor)

18 Resolve (14 Base +1 Nalvi +1 Human +2 Berath's Blessing)

 

At Level 20, that's 312 HP. I factored in some of the gear I'll be going for throughout the playthrough, but I'm aiming to get 20 Perception, Intellect, and Resolve by the end of the game for higher end dialogue checks and trap-spotting. 

 

Abilities: 

 

Level 1: Lay on Hands/Crippling Strike

Level 2: Deep Faith

Level 3: Escape

Level 4: Two-Weapon Fighting/Zealous Aura

Level 5: Dirty Fighting

Level 6: Inspired Triumph

Level 7: Finishing Blow/Eternal Devotion

Level 8: Riposte

Level 9: Bear's Fortitude

Level 10: Persistent Distraction/Scion of Flame

Level 11: Greater Lay on Hands

Level 12: Glorious Beacon

Level 13: Deep Wounds/Inspiring Beacon

Level 14: Devastating Blow

Level 15: Exalted Focus

Level 16: Virtuous Triumph/Toxic Strike

Level 17: Uncanny Luck

Level 18: Improved Critical

Level 19: Deathblows/Stoic Steel

 

Level 20: Mental Fortress

 

These are all based off of 1TTFFSSE's suggestions. I feel like I've gotten most of the good/relevant abilities. I wanted as many defensive/on-kill options as possible as well as good hit-to-crit. 

 

Equipment:

 

Weapons: LOTS of good options here. I plan to have a couple of different sets - Weapon and Shield for early buffing (Probably Modwyr/Bronlar's Phalanx), Dual Wielding for damage (There's loads of different good Saber options. Animancer's Energy Blade does decent Raw damage and attacks faster, Tarn's Respite strips Deflection on hit - which your main damage dealing attack targets), Magran's Favor is also another good choice, and I can also use a Dagger like Pukestabber in my off-hand for bonus melee Deflection. I might take an AoE weapon too, either Wahai Poroga or Oathbreaker's End. 

 

Armor: Casita Samelia's Legacy (Enchant with the Slash damage retaliation attack. Not that the Will one is bad, but extra retaliatory attacks are nice). I plan to go full genocide on the Valera/Bardatto quest, because why would I actively HELP the Vallians fight the Principi?). 

 

Pet: Nalvi. Armor penalty reduction and +1 Resolve. Can be obtained fairly early on with no combat!

 

Hands: Woedica's Strangling Grasp. +3 Burn armor resistance, +2 Might, and you can strangle people once per rest. It's special magic strangling too, so you don't even have to stay close to them to do it!

 

Belt: Upright Captain's Belt - Personal preference, for Concentration and immunity to push/pull. 

 

Boots: Boots of Stability for Fortitude until I can upgrade to Rakhan Field Boots for a per-Encounter charge and Corrode armor resistance.

 

Trinket: Detonator Fragment (None of them are particularly appealing, but just to fill the slot, I think it probably offers the best effect. It's a fireball that heals your party).

 

Neck: Strand of Favor for +1 Intellect. Otherwise, not really sure what'd be good here. 

 

Cloak: Cloak of Greater Protection for +10 to all defenses except Deflection. 

 

Rings: Chameleon's Touch and either the Ring of Focused Flame (For FoD Accuracy) or the Ring of Prosperity's Fortune/Ring of Money (For 15% hit to crit with lots of money). The build has 20% Hit-to-Crit going off of pure stats and with my Aura activated. 

 

Helm: This is a tricky one! Fair Favor for extra hit-to-crit with sabres and daggers, or the Horns of the Bleak Mother for extra Perception. 

 

So, still a little bit left to go in determining ideal gear and stats/abilities, but I think I'm a lot closer to being done with this. I really look forward to trying it out. I like the idea of setting the encounter as a tank, rather than being delegated to enemy clean-up duty while Eder engages. 

Edited August 10, 2018 by Cyrus_Blackfeather

[KDubya]

Looks pretty good.

 

I like the first stat spread, only change I'd make is to add one to perception to get it to a base 18 at the start with your Berath blessings. I think 18 is a breakpoint for seeing a lot of the harder traps and stuff.

[Cyrus_Blackfeather]

Looks pretty good.

 

I like the first stat spread, only change I'd make is to add one to perception to get it to a base 18 at the start with your Berath blessings. I think 18 is a breakpoint for seeing a lot of the harder traps and stuff.

 

Alright, that's a good point. I'll take it out of Dexterity - one point in Dex either way really isn't going to matter THAT much. 

[thundercleese]

I'm curious why you always take Durance for your Effigy.

 

To actually get good AoE damage from Oathbreaker's End you need to be critting as many targets as possible, then have them die with the DoT active. Killing on a crit also counts. Because of this abilities that hit multiple enemies with a single use are preferred - of which only Fighter can get on a multiclass (Clear Out). That's not to say it won't be a good pick for this character, just don't expect to automatically destroy things in an AoE with it. To maximise it you will be wanting to monitor the foes you are engaging and target ones without the debuff until you get a crit on them, then move to another, etc. You can have your party members kill them and still get the explosion, so long as the DoT is active.

[Cyrus_Blackfeather]

I'm curious why you always take Durance for your Effigy.

 

To actually get good AoE damage from Oathbreaker's End you need to be critting as many targets as possible, then have them die with the DoT active. Killing on a crit also counts. Because of this abilities that hit multiple enemies with a single use are preferred - of which only Fighter can get on a multiclass (Clear Out). That's not to say it won't be a good pick for this character, just don't expect to automatically destroy things in an AoE with it. To maximise it you will be wanting to monitor the foes you are engaging and target ones without the debuff until you get a crit on them, then move to another, etc. You can have your party members kill them and still get the explosion, so long as the DoT is active.

 

Because it gives 5% extra HP in addition to the +1 Con you get from it. There might be better ones, though Durance's is definitely the one that's the least conditional. 

 

I might look at Whispers of the Endless Paths as another AoE option and just use a mod or something that de-nerfs it. 

 

Other than that, I'm just trying to find ways to get my Intellect up. If 18 Perception is enough to see some of the nastier traps, and 18 Resolve is enough for most of the checks in the game, then that's all I really need to worry about boosting, for the sake of things like the Sickened on Flames of Devotion and Inspired Beacon's Blind and vulnerability effect. I could drop 5 points from Might and then shave one each off of Con and Dex to max everything else out. Not sure how significant a 15% Might damage bonus compared to a 30% one would be. 

[thundercleese]

 

I'm curious why you always take Durance for your Effigy.

 

To actually get good AoE damage from Oathbreaker's End you need to be critting as many targets as possible, then have them die with the DoT active. Killing on a crit also counts. Because of this abilities that hit multiple enemies with a single use are preferred - of which only Fighter can get on a multiclass (Clear Out). That's not to say it won't be a good pick for this character, just don't expect to automatically destroy things in an AoE with it. To maximise it you will be wanting to monitor the foes you are engaging and target ones without the debuff until you get a crit on them, then move to another, etc. You can have your party members kill them and still get the explosion, so long as the DoT is active.

 

Because it gives 5% extra HP in addition to the +1 Con you get from it. There might be better ones, though Durance's is definitely the one that's the least conditional. 

 

I might look at Whispers of the Endless Paths as another AoE option and just use a mod or something that de-nerfs it. 

 

Other than that, I'm just trying to find ways to get my Intellect up. If 18 Perception is enough to see some of the nastier traps, and 18 Resolve is enough for most of the checks in the game, then that's all I really need to worry about boosting, for the sake of things like the Sickened on Flames of Devotion and Inspired Beacon's Blind and vulnerability effect. I could drop 5 points from Might and then shave one each off of Con and Dex to max everything else out. Not sure how significant a 15% Might damage bonus compared to a 30% one would be. 

 

Fair enough, none of the bonuses are terribly significant at the end of the day. I never really even considered taking it but then my philosophy is they can't hurt you if they are dead, so just max damage while keeping defenses high enough to not get one shot.

 

Regarding int - you could just drop 4 points from might which would let you max it. You get so much additive damage between Rogue, legendary, crit, overpen etc. that might isn't that big a deal. Your healing will be a little lower though. Not sure the exact thresholds for per, but I know that I've never missed anything with 20 (18 may very well be all that's required) - also more accuracy never hurts. I also think for a deflection/riposte tank that max res is quite important, though my experience with such builds is very limited. I would prefer to lower con rather than dex, though again that's also down to preference.

 

I wasn't trying to put you off Oathbreaker's End, just to point out that if you're not critting often and on multiple targets it won't be that impressive.

 

Edit: Also IIRC Nalvi grants a small armour revocery reduction than Abraham/Cutthroat Cosmo, which makes sense as it's a party-wide buff. Whether that's a big deal or not is up to you.

Edited August 11, 2018 by thundercleese

[Cyrus_Blackfeather]

Okay, so something like... 

 

16 Might (8 Base + 1 Human +2 Woedica's Strangling Grasp + 1 Chameleon's Touch + 1 Gift of the Machine +2 Berath's Blessing +1 Permanent Stat Boost)

13 Con (10 Base +1 Effigy's Resentment (Durance) +2 Berath's Blessing) - Effectively 25% extra Health

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

18 Perception (16 Base +2 Berath's Blessing)

21 Intellect (18 Base +2 Berath's Blessing +1 Strand of Favor)

18 Resolve (14 Base +1 Nalvi +1 Human +2 Berath's Blessing)

 

If Nalvi gives a reduced Recovery reduction, I might swap back out for Abraham. Having a pet that reduces Recovery Time is super important. Especially if I'm not using DoC Breastplate or Streetfighter. 

 

... That's actually a good question. DoC or Casita Samelia? Casita gives Deflection based on Intimidate, but DoC gives +2 extra Guile and Zeal. 

 

As far as Dexterity goes, I'm not really sure how much it actually matters. If I lower Con to 10, adjusted, that's 275 HP. I'd put the points into Resolve to get up to 20 without Nalvi, so it'd look like this. 

 

15 Might (7 Base + 1 Human +2 Woedica's Strangling Grasp + 1 Chameleon's Touch + 1 Gift of the Machine +2 Berath's Blessing +1 Permanent Stat Boost)

10 Con (7 Base +1 Effigy's Resentment (Durance) +2 Berath's Blessing) - Effectively 25% extra Health

19 Dexterity (15 Base +1 Deadfire +2 Berath's Blessing +1 Chameleon's Touch)

18 Perception (16 Base +2 Berath's Blessing)

18 Intellect (15 Base +2 Berath's Blessing +1 Strand of Favor)

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

 

If 30% -> 18% is negligible, 18%->15% is miniscule. This also gets me 20 in all of my relevant stats with only one item required, and allows me to use Abraham. None of the stat checks for those three attributes go above 20. 

 

Edit: It was recommended, since Paladin/Trickster don't offer any action speed buffs, that I take two points each from Perception/Intellect/Resolve and put them into Dexterity. I've made that adjustment. That gives me 5.8 second dual sabre full attacks with just two-weapon fighting. 

 

 

 

Edited August 11, 2018 by Cyrus_Blackfeather

[thundercleese]

With might, you don't have it below 10, but as a Rogue you typically don't need to prioritise it.

 

If you're wanting to maximise Riposte then go for Casita, if you want a few more action points and slightly faster recovery go DoC.

 

How much dexterity matters depends on how much you're wanting to build around Riposte. If you plan it to be your main source of damage then dex is less important. Though you don't want it too low as it'll impact your ability use.

 

The time in the speed calculator is showing total duration for two auto-attacks. A full attack ability will ignore the recovery of the main hand, so 3.9 and 3.1 respectively.

[Cyrus_Blackfeather]

With might, you don't have it below 10, but as a Rogue you typically don't need to prioritise it.

 

If you're wanting to maximise Riposte then go for Casita, if you want a few more action points and slightly faster recovery go DoC.

 

How much dexterity matters depends on how much you're wanting to build around Riposte. If you plan it to be your main source of damage then dex is less important. Though you don't want it too low as it'll impact your ability use.

 

The time in the speed calculator is showing total duration for two auto-attacks. A full attack ability will ignore the recovery of the main hand, so 3.9 and 3.1 respectively.

 

Is that how that works? Thank you. 

 

Hmm, that's a tough one. I was hoping to maximize Riposte, since it's a big part of why I wanted to play a Rogue, and I think I can get a lot of mileage out of it - but then people have said it's not worth building around. I feel like the ability points are slightly less useful though, and the extra Recovery Time is only 0.2 seconds. Plus it's kind of nice to just let the Devil have her revenge. Furthermore, Casita Samelia's Legacy just looks a lot cooler - I like the gouges in the metal. 

 

I'm not really sure where my main source of consistent damage would come from. I do know that Riposte is only a 30% chance on a complete miss, and I'm not sure how viable that is on PotD, especially if I opt to go with a party. 

 

What I can say is that I like the idea of Riposte as a main damage source, supplemented by Flames of Devotion-> Eternal Devotion, Crippling Strike, and Finishing->Devastating Blow. I feel like it fits thematically for the character I'm trying to play - he's intended to be a merciless pirate tank, cutting swathes through enemies in boarding actions while escaping relatively unscathed (Thanks to a bit of properly applied Illusion magic). 

[1TTFFSSE]

It may "look stupid" but the best way to maximize riposte efficiency on a Holy Slayer in a party while maintaining two-handed dps output is to wield Kapana Taga club (or whatever it's called you get it when you sink Fyrgist) in the off hand. It is a fast weapon (important for two handed full attacks), you get access to club modal -10 or even -25? will on hit on the enemy which is nice when the tank debuffs will defense that way, and it has an enchant that grants +2 engagement slots. And the club itself is not too shabby +3% raw damage per enemy engaged is part of the package. 

[Cyrus_Blackfeather]

It may "look stupid" but the best way to maximize riposte efficiency on a Holy Slayer in a party while maintaining two-handed dps output is to wield Kapana Taga club (or whatever it's called you get it when you sink Fyrgist) in the off hand. It is a fast weapon (important for two handed full attacks), you get access to club modal -10 or even -25? will on hit on the enemy which is nice when the tank debuffs will defense that way, and it has an enchant that grants +2 engagement slots. And the club itself is not too shabby +3% raw damage per enemy engaged is part of the package. 

 

Hmm... That does kind of look a little silly. Yeah, it does seem like maximizing engagements is most important on any Riposte build, so in parties it seems to work better with Unbroken/Trickster. Do you think maybe I should ignore Riposte? 

[KDubya]

What ability are you taking instead of riposte?

 

I'm not a big fan of riposte as far as building an entire character around optimizing for riposte but if you have nothing better to pick then its free damage which is always good. You're already dual wielding which meshes well with full attacks from riposte, you have deep wounds to inflict raw DoT and your deflection will be quite high due to stats, deep faith and trickster spells so getting some free damage from riposte is not bad.

 

Plus it fits for roleplaying reasons and character theme.

[Dorftek]

Definitely pick Riposte!

 

The problem with the Tanga club is its low pen, it has less pen then any other one hander in the game, at legendary it has 10 pen. Wich is a shame because it's got nice enchants on it.

 

If you are dual wielding on this guy I'd recommend Squids grasp as it gives u immunity to flanked, think of it as +10 deflection and +1 armour. Also gives u 20% action speed as long as there are 3 or more enemies. It's also a fast weapon so full attacks are quicker. Weapons like this makes me wonder why they even put weapons like Azure blade into the game

Edited August 11, 2018 by Dorftek

[1TTFFSSE]

Definitely pick Riposte!

 

The problem with the Tanga club is its low pen, it has less pen then any other one hander in the game, at legendary it has 10 pen. Wich is a shame because it's got nice enchants on it.

 

If you are dual wielding on this guy I'd recommend Squids grasp as it gives u immunity to flanked, think of it as +10 deflection and +1 armour. Also gives u 20% action speed as long as there are 3 or more enemies. It's also a fast weapon so full attacks are quicker. Weapons like this makes me wonder why they even put weapons like Azure blade into the game

Oh Tanga club also has immunity to flanked on enchant by the way I forgot ...which is a "cheaper" enchant because I think you need a precious adra ban to get rid of calmo's curse on Squid's. but on the upside, it is legendary from when you buy it.

 

It's a matter fo crush vs pierce damage and the rapier is more pirate appropriate. Hot Razor Skewers food is great at raising penetration on weapons though anyways. 

[Cyrus_Blackfeather]

 

Definitely pick Riposte!

 

The problem with the Tanga club is its low pen, it has less pen then any other one hander in the game, at legendary it has 10 pen. Wich is a shame because it's got nice enchants on it.

 

If you are dual wielding on this guy I'd recommend Squids grasp as it gives u immunity to flanked, think of it as +10 deflection and +1 armour. Also gives u 20% action speed as long as there are 3 or more enemies. It's also a fast weapon so full attacks are quicker. Weapons like this makes me wonder why they even put weapons like Azure blade into the game

Oh Tanga club also has immunity to flanked on enchant by the way I forgot ...which is a "cheaper" enchant because I think you need a precious adra ban to get rid of calmo's curse on Squid's. but on the upside, it is legendary from when you buy it.

 

It's a matter fo crush vs pierce damage and the rapier is more pirate appropriate. Hot Razor Skewers food is great at raising penetration on weapons though anyways. 

 

 

That's true, you mentioned that food in one of my earlier threads discussing this. And, yes, the biggest issue has been weapon selection for this build BY FAR. There's so many viable options. Squid's Grasp is a lot of fun (Though it takes, as you said, an Adra Ban to remove the curse, and skeletons tend to be pierce-immune). I like the idea of dual wielding sabres for the extra pirate theme and using stuff like Tarn's Respite to strip deflection and the Aldris Blade of Captain Crow. I can't really settle on a favorite weapon set and will probably switch around a lot. The only things I won't be taking are ranged weapons, magical implements, and most two-handers (Though I think WotEP is still good for this build). 

 

 

What ability are you taking instead of riposte?

 

I'm not a big fan of riposte as far as building an entire character around optimizing for riposte but if you have nothing better to pick then its free damage which is always good. You're already dual wielding which meshes well with full attacks from riposte, you have deep wounds to inflict raw DoT and your deflection will be quite high due to stats, deep faith and trickster spells so getting some free damage from riposte is not bad.

 

Plus it fits for roleplaying reasons and character theme.

 

I don't really have anything else I'd take besides Riposte except maybe Combat Focus. So, yeah, I think I'll stick with it. I more or less feel confident in all of the other ability choices too. It's still extra passive damage - I just should keep my Dexterity up too, so I'm not attacking super slowly.