Character build: Witcher (Berseker/Soul Blade)

[Zaris]

Noticing a lack of Witch (or Witcher, shame it’s a trademark) build I took it upon myself to create one. However since this is my first Deadfire build, I would appreciate some feedback and tips. So, here we go:

 

 

Witcher (Berseker/Soul Blade)

 

Overview: This is a high-risk, high-reward striker meant to focus as many enemies as possible on her/himself and wreak havoc with a mix of two powerful attacks (Soul Annihilation and Barbaric Smash), Spirit Frenzy/Tornado, Carnage and Secret Horrors. Also having Borrowed Instinct and Desintegration in backup against most dangerous opponents.

 

Party: Best combined with a healer to counter our lack of other means for healing as well as tank to protect this healer when we’re out kicking ass and taking names. Rogue for taking care of enemy casters would also be nice, unless we invest in Lion’s Sprint and are able to rush past enemy frontliners ourselves.

 

Stats:

Might 15

Constitution 10

Dexterity 10

Perception 19

Intelligence 19

Resolve 5

 

I don’t like dumping stats, but in this particular occasion it fits really well both from build as well as role-play perspective, since somebody regulary flying into a bloody rage and killing friend and foe alike is not somebody you would consider having high resolve. Most important is Perception since we want to hit as many times as possible and not waste a lot of attacks, both regular as well as from Carnage. Int, Mig, Dex and Con can be rearranged depending on personal preference and the kind of character you want to play, all four of this stats are useful in their own way.

 

Abilities:

Level 1: Frenzy & Iron Will

Level 2: Blooded

Level 3: Lingering Echoes

Level 4: Draining Whip & Barbaric Blow

Level 5: Two-Handed Style

Level 6: Thick Skinned

Level 7: Secret Horrors & One Stands Alone

Level 8: Bloodlust

Level 9: Bloody Slaughter

Level 10: Greater Focus & Spirit Frenzy

Level 11: Hammering Thoughts

Level 12: Unflinching

Level 13: Borrowed Instinct & Barbaric Smash

Level 14: Uncanny Luck

Level 15: Keen Mind

Level 16: Empty Soul & Improved Critical

Level 17: Interrupting Blows

Level 18: Tough

Level 19: Blood Thirst & Desintegrate

Level 20: Spirit Tornado

 

 

Backround: Hunter

Active: Alchemy (fits perfectly with our title as a witcher and helps make more potent potions)

Passive: Any

 

 

Passive abilities:

-Iron Will adds 15 to Will which balances minus from low Resolve. Would be nicely paired with Backlash and Brutal Backlash but unfortunately there were no more points for these two

-Blooded combined with Fighting Spirit gives us a huge boost in damage when we’re, well Blooded. Also, if we’re not playing as Human this provides indication that our Health is low even when we cannot see it in Frenzy (HIGH PRIORITY)

-Lingering Echoes is not so great, but there is nothing better on this level (to my knowledge) and it’ll prolong the effects of our Frighten, Sicken and all the others for a couple seconds, so why not

-Draining Whip helps us build Focus faster which is very important for using Soul Annihilation. Extra 10% Damage from Bitting is tempting, however we already get a ton of that from Barbarian abilities so it’s better to choose Draining and use Soul Annihilation more often. Naturally this is (HIGH PRIORITY)

-Two-Handed Style is another Damage boost, which is always nice (HIGH PRIORITY)

-Thick Skinned gives more Armor, helpful when we’re playing as a frontliner, even if the bonus is not so big

-One Stands Alone is a must-have for character constantly surrunded by enemies (HIGH PRIORITY)

-Bloodlust makes us faster with each kill and we’re going to be killing a lot (HIGH PRIORITY)

-Bloody Slaughter helps us kill faster inreasing our odda against damaged enemies so (HIGH PRIORITY)

-Greater Focus allows us to build more Focus (kinda self-explanatory, I know) which increases the power of our Soul Annihilation (HIGH PRIORITY)

-Hammering Thoughts gives bonus Penetration, useful but not so much

-Unflinching gives resistance to affliction to Might, Con and Dex which will keep us from getting weakened and hindered in any meaningful way.

-Uncanny Luck provides another slight edge in fights, albeit small so we can replace it if anybody has any suggestions

-Keen Mind gives us more Focus at the start of each fight, making our Soul Annihilation available faster (HIGH PRIORITY)

-Empty Soul helps us attack Will of enemies, which is important considering our most useful spells (Borrowed Instinct and Secret Horrors) both attack Will (HIGH PRIORITY)

-Improved Critical is important seeing as we’ll be getting this Crits left and right and need to empower them as much as possible (HIGH PRIORITY)

-Interrupting Blows is another improvment of our numerous Crits, making our enemies loose turns and rendering them unable to attack. Especially nice seeing as Carnage Hits can also be Crits, so in best case scenario we’ll Interrupt everybody around us. However it’s only 50% chance so you may want to swap it for another VI level ability.

-Tough is just a Health boost, always good for somebody at the front lines. Although it’s VI level so there can be some more powerful options

-Blood Thirst is amazing for this build, making us recover immediately with each kill, of which we’ll be getting plenty (HIGH PRIORITY)

 

 

Active abilities:

-Frenzy is obvious since it’s the base of our entire build and Berseker subclass so naturally it’s (HIGH PRIORITY)

-Barbaric Blow is a powerful attack, combined with all the Passives it causes 75% more Damage, improves Crits and with our Intelligence the Carnage effect of this attack has 95% larger range. (HIGH PRIORITY)

-Secret Horrors combined with our high Intelligence and Empty Soul can stop everybody in a 4m radius from doing anything except ****ting their pants for over 20s making them easy targets for our attacks, Carnage and Barbaric Blows (HIGH PRIORITY)

-Spirit Frenzy improves our favourite Frenzy so it’s important, however whether you choose this or Blood Frenzy is up to personal preference. I personally think Spirit is better because we’ll be getting plenty Hits so also a lot of Stagger all around.

-Borrowed Instinct is super powerful seeing at it makes us a lot stonger while also hindering enemies. I try not to put a lot of spells in this build so that we can focus our Focus on Soul Annihilation but this spell is definitely (HIGH PRIORITY)

-Barbaric Smash causes our Babaric Blow to refund it’s cost if we kill our target so hell yeah we want it: (HIGH PRIORITY)

-Desintegrate is somewhat controversial as it costs a lot of our precious Focus but I think it’s good to have one powerful offensive spell in case we’re up againts a dangerous opponent and Soul Annihilation just doesn’t cut it anymore. Unless there is some mechanic that I’m unaware of that makes this spell useless for this build

-Spirit Tornado is an obvious choice once we have Spirit Frenzy since it Terrifies everybody around us and causes a small extra AOE damage to combine with our Carnage

 

 

As I mentioned above there are a couple of abilities that I’m not enitrely sure of and I may be oblivious to some more powerful combination of Passives and Actives.

You may also want to ditch Secret Horrors, Borrowed Instinct and Empty Soul if you opt for more brutal and direct approach, with all Focus going to Soul Annihilation, but I prefer to have some spells, at least for the sake of our „Witch/Witcher” title not feeling hollow. What you pick instead of this three Abilities is your choice, I think Sprint, Lion’s Sprint and some buff like Bear’s Fortitude seem good, giving you ability to rush past the enemy line and into their casters/ranged strikers, massacring them, while also getting far from your team so that they’re safe from your Carnage and Spirit Tornado