[Roleplay Build] "The Iron Reaver of Dunnage" Holy Slayer (Bleak Walker/Trickster) [Complete!]

[Cyrus_Blackfeather]

The Iron Reaver of Dunnage... A brutal Bleak Walker pirate who cuts down all comers, leaving the decks of enemy ships soaked in blood. 

 

Mood Music:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7RirEqehfsg

 

The Character: 

 

My vision for this character is essentially an implacable wall of steel and death, the first to board each enemy ship, slaughtering crews to a man until they yield. He fully embraces the Bleak Walker concept of total war in order to build up a fearsome reputation, so that his prey only has to see his colors before they strike theirs and prepare to turn over their cargo. 

 

(Of course, there's no such reputation system in Deadfire, and every ship battle is a fight to the death, so... Maybe people forgot who they should fear in the last few years) 

 

Now, that isn't to say he's completely humorless, or a dictator. He works to make his crews happy, treats his men fairly and even offers them pensions if they're seriously injured in his service. He's not above the occasional bit of debauchery (Especially for the right stat bonus) and makes sure his crew has their daily rum ration and a chance to unwind once in a while. Of course, if after all of that they DO decide to mutiny, he'll respond with brutal efficiency and then sail to port to hire a new crew. 

 

Favored Dispositions are: Aggressive, Cruel, Shady, and Clever 

Aggressive/Cruel make up the Bleak Walker credo, but they aren't always picked in non-combat situations. 

Shady is fairly obvious - he's a pirate and a criminal

Clever is picked to add a bit of levity to proceedings. 

 

Mood: 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mxBd05c0STo

 

The Build: 

 

Race: Human (Oceanfolk) - Picked for the Old Vallian roots, and for having better customization options than Meadowfolk. Godlike would be another good choice if you feel comfortable sacrificing the helm slot. 

 

Class: Holy Slayer (Bleak Walker/Trickster) - Bleak Walkers get free FoD and a nice upgrade to it in the form of a lash that grants Sickened (So, extra ways to get Sneak Attack). Trickster offers some amazing defensive buffs to help fish out Ripostes, while also not really suffering much of a drawback. It's 100% Sneak Attack/Deathblows damage compared to 110% on other Rogues. Streetfighter gets up to 160% if it's flanked or bloodied, but that's conditional. 

 

If you're planning on taking this build solo, I'd recommend Goldpact Knight. Extra armor really helps when you don't have a support tank like Pallegina.

 

Blessings: Bonus Attributes/Skills, 5,000 starting gold, and the unique item merchant. I pick bonus attributes because I like having more max with less min. 5,000 starting gold just for that little bit of early game advantage, and the unique merchant for earlier access to better cloaks/rings. 

 

Culture/Background: Deadfire/Raider. The way I see it, from a roleplay perspective, this character was born in the Deadfire to a family that had long been a part of the Principi. That explains his Oceanfolk roots, but why he's familiar with the native Huana language and customs. Raider just fits for a Principi character, and is only available to Deadfire characters as well. 

 

Skill Focus: Mechanics/Athletics with a splash of Explosives and Insight/Intimidate with a splash of Streetwise (Or Metaphysics). I'm a little unsure about skills, but at least I can reroll safely now. Because of the nerfs to skill scaling with consumables, I went ahead and focused on Mechanics and Athletics - I plan to have another party member be my Stealther (Probably Eder as a Swashbuckler). Explosives is dabbled in because it can lead to some pretty funny interactions. Blow up the jail. Blow up Benweth, etc. Though beating the tar out of him is more fun. Insight and Intimidate are picked for the dialogue checks, with a splash into Metaphysics (for more esoteric checks with party assist) or Streetwise (More in keeping with the Rogue/Pirate theme). 

 

Attributes: 

 

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

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

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

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

20 Resolve (17 Base +1 Human +2 Berath's Blessing)

 

With all of the damage bonuses both Rogue and Paladin give, super high Might isn't too necessary. Dexterity isn't as well - I could get as high as 19 Dexterity with this build, and the difference in Recovery Time would be around 0.1-0.2 seconds. Constitution is a bit of a problem - I'll only have 275 HP at level 20. I can take 2 points each out of Perception, Intellect, and Resolve to get around 350 HP though. 

 

Abilities: 

 

Level 1: Sworn Enemy/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/Lay on Hands

Level 8: Riposte

Level 9: Bear's Fortitude

Level 10: Persistent Distraction/Shared Flames

Level 11: Brand Enemy

Level 12: Glorious Beacon

Level 13: Deep Wounds/Inspiring Beacon

Level 14: Devastating Blow

Level 15: Exalted Focus

Level 16: Virtuous Triumph/Withering Strike

Level 17: Tough

Level 18: Toxic Strike

Level 19: Deathblows/Stoic Steel

Level 20: Mental Fortress

 

- Dropped Greater Lay on Hands for Tough. Considering dropping Lay on Hands and Bear's Fortitude entirely for Blinding Strike and Confounding Blind, because the accuracy bonus to Blinding Strike is pretty good for a two Guile attack. 

 

Equipment: 

 

This section is the biggest WIP of the whole build since I still haven't decided on some of these item slots. There's way too many very good weapons and armor that all work with this build. I'm curious to hear your thoughts on all of this, but this in particular. 

 

Weapons: Magran's Favor for +2 Fire PLs and extra fire lash (Living Pyre and Burning Burst Enchantments). OH Rust's Poignard for DPS or Kapana Taga (All-Comers and Champion's Relic) or Last Word for tanking. 

 

Armor: Casita Samelia's Legacy or the DoC Breastplate, upgrade to Blackened Plate later on for an aura and an extra engagement slot (As well as armor that just looks really cool). Casita Samelia gives an extra retaliation attack, though requires being hit by a specific damage type, and has a bonus to Deflection that scales with Intimidate. The DoC Breastplate gives +2 of each class resource (Guile and Zeal) and has a Recovery reduction - though admittedly that's a very slight change, per the Deadfire Speed Calculator. 

 

Pets: Abraham, who I might change to Nalvi later on (Best boys). Can I get confirmation on whether Nalvi's recovery reduction is weaker since it's party-wide? 

 

Cloak: Cloak of Greater Protection for +10 to all non-Deflection Defenses (Fortitude is going to be the lowest with this build, while Will will be stupendous and Reflex will be "okay")

 

Rings: Ring of Focused Flame (For +10 Accuracy to Flames of Devotion) and Chameleon's Touch (+1/+1 to two attributes and +1/+1 to two skills). 

 

Helm: Horns of the Bleak Mother for Perception, damage against Beasts, and resistance to Resolve afflictions, and then upgrade to Blackened Plate Helm for +1 Intellect/Perception and another Engagement slot. Alternatively, use the new helm from the DLC - +10 Accuracy for Bleak Walker Flames of Devotion (Stacks with Ring of Focused Fire) and Hit-to-Graze or Graze-to-Miss? 

 

Belt: Upright Captain's Belt for Concentration at the start of combat and immunity to push/pull effects. Undying Burden is an okay choice here as well, but Concentration is important for tanks. 

 

Boots: Boots of the Stone (+1 Dexterity/+1 Resolve, Resistance to Might afflictions) and then upgrade to Rakhan Field Boots

 

Neck: Strand of Favor (+1 Intellect, and then a little mini Resolve boost and Intellect boost as far as positive effects go)

 

And that wraps it up. This was a lot of fun to work on, and I hope you all enjoyed reading it. It's easily my most thought out build. 

Edited August 16, 2018 by Cyrus_Blackfeather

[colma86]

I'd definitely drop greater lay on hands, the +1 zeal cost makes it not worth. For armor I'd say DoC for more FoD spam, I doubt anyone else would get as much mileage

out of it.

 

Edit: I always use Magran's Favor on pally and it used to be Sun and Moon off hand, but since the nerfs there are a bunch of off hands that work just as well.

Edited August 14, 2018 by colma86

[Cyrus_Blackfeather]

I'd definitely drop greater lay on hands, the +1 zeal cost makes it not worth. For armor I'd say DoC for more FoD spam, I doubt anyone else would get as much mileage

out of it.

 

Edit: I always use Magran's Favor on pally and it used to be Sun and Moon off hand, but since the nerfs there are a bunch of off hands that work just as well.

 

Magran's Favor? Alright, I'll look into that. I like the idea of a battleaxe wielding pirate too - boarding axes were used a lot. Is it something I could get fairly early on, or is it one of those I can only get in the endgame? 

[Vitalis]

 

I'd definitely drop greater lay on hands, the +1 zeal cost makes it not worth. For armor I'd say DoC for more FoD spam, I doubt anyone else would get as much mileage

out of it.

 

Edit: I always use Magran's Favor on pally and it used to be Sun and Moon off hand, but since the nerfs there are a bunch of off hands that work just as well.

Magran's Favor? Alright, I'll look into that. I like the idea of a battleaxe wielding pirate too - boarding axes were used a lot. Is it something I could get fairly early on, or is it one of those I can only get in the endgame?

You can get it around level 14 if you handle the fights with the tried and tested try to pull 1 or 2 guys at a time method. Its found at Kohopa's Fang, the northern most island in Magran's Teeth, its directly east of Junvik.

[brasilgringo]

You should look into stacking Religion and using Xoti's Sickle as one of the weapons, if dps is  your focus.  It has some sick bonuses.

If I'm not mistaken there are some other nice weaps/sheilds that stack with Religion - though if you need Intimidate for BW, then maybe this would only apply in a Goldpact case.

 

Question on your stats:  how do you get Gift of the Machine (+1 STR) and Effigy's Resentment (Durance +1 CON) - I assume these are background choices when you import your POE1 background, so if you could explain what choices need to be made to get these, that would be helpful.

 

If you don't really need to stack Initimdate for BW (maybe the checks aren't that high for your MC), I'm not sure Casita armor is worth it - not sure your stacking enough +Def for it to really matter.  There are a bunch of posts recently pumping Patinated Plate for tanky builds, esp using Abraham pet.  Worth considering?

 

Apparently the new BoW helm gives a simliar bonus to ring of focused flame but for Mind/Afflication attacks which apparently (they said) FoD on BW gives (Sickened) - haven't tested it, not sure worth sacrificing head slot, but if it's true it might free up a ring slot.

Thx

Edited August 14, 2018 by brasilgringo

[Cyrus_Blackfeather]

You should look into stacking Religion and using Xoti's Sickle as one of the weapons, if dps is  your focus.  It has some sick bonuses.

If I'm not mistaken there are some other nice weaps/sheilds that stack with Religion - though if you need Intimidate for BW, then maybe this would only apply in a Goldpact case.

 

Question on your stats:  how do you get Gift of the Machine (+1 STR) and Effigy's Resentment (Durance +1 CON) - I assume these are background choices when you import your POE1 background, so if you could explain what choices need to be made to get these, that would be helpful.

 

If you don't really need to stack Initimdate for BW (maybe the checks aren't that high for your MC), I'm not sure Casita armor is worth it - not sure your stacking enough +Def for it to really matter.  There are a bunch of posts recently pumping Patinated Plate for tanky builds, esp using Abraham pet.  Worth considering?

 

Apparently the new BoW helm gives a simliar bonus to ring of focused flame but for Mind/Afflication attacks which apparently (they said) FoD on BW gives (Sickened) - haven't tested it, not sure worth sacrificing head slot, but if it's true it might free up a ring slot.

Thx

 

Gift of the Machine comes from absorbing the souls in one of the Defiance Bay decisions. Effigy's Resentment is from sacrificing a companion (The decision it asks you to make before you pick your companion choices). It's different depending on who you pick. 

[Cyrus_Blackfeather]

I might look at Palinated Plate - it's easier to get than the Blackened Plate. Plus it's Legendary. Is it possible to steal it? 

[1TTFFSSE]

I might look at Palinated Plate - it's easier to get than the Blackened Plate. Plus it's Legendary. Is it possible to steal it? 

Not worth it's too slow...it is a good armor when soloing but otherwise not used. I second the choice comes down to devil of caroc armor or casita you have to test it in game for yourself if you have too little deflection and are getting hit too much go for casita.

 

Magran's Favor is amazing on paladin. It is the offhand that is tricky. Theoretically, either Rust's or Sungrazer flail is the best dps choice in the offhand or Squid's Grasp/ Last Word or Kopana Taga for tanking. 

Edited August 14, 2018 by 1TTFFSSE

[thundercleese]

Yep, you can steal it along with Grave Calling. The merchant on the beach of Crookspur; one in each chest, at least one of the chests requires 14 mechanics min.

 

Re: the helmet; you can have both it and the ring. The question is whether the accuracy applies to the whole attack, or just the affliction roll. Seeing as it increases the accuracy of Stunning Surge on a Monk, I'm fairly confident it will work on the damage roll too (though I haven't tested myself).

[1TTFFSSE]

yeah the Helm is amazing...so on good on cipher, bleakwalker barbarian anything really it is tough to decide whom to give it to. the only con is that it looks kind of ugly and usually mismatched with any other outfit in the game.

[Cyrus_Blackfeather]

yeah the Helm is amazing...so on good on cipher, bleakwalker barbarian anything really it is tough to decide whom to give it to. the only con is that it looks kind of ugly and usually mismatched with any other outfit in the game.

 

Well, that's what the hide helm option is for, I suppose. 

 

Alright, so Magran's Favor and Rust's or Last Word. I like the idea of Xoti's Sickle, but I don't feel like dumping my Intimidate for Religion for it. Engagement will be a bit of an issue though - I'll only have at most three engagement slots unless the helm grants one. 

[thundercleese]

yeah the Helm is amazing...so on good on cipher, bleakwalker barbarian anything really it is tough to decide whom to give it to. the only con is that it looks kind of ugly and usually mismatched with any other outfit in the game.

Yeah pretty much only suits the soul bound armour in terms of looks. Also has 10% graze to miss (or is it hit to graze) to top it off.

[brasilgringo]

yeah the Helm is amazing...so on good on cipher, bleakwalker barbarian anything really it is tough to decide whom to give it to. the only con is that it looks kind of ugly and usually mismatched with any other outfit in the game.

click the eye icon above the helmet slot and turn it off (appearance)!

[Cyrus_Blackfeather]

Updated with Magran's Favor as my MH. Definitely going for the Living Pyre upgrade ASAP. 

[Cyrus_Blackfeather]

Dropped Greater Lay on Hands for Tough. Considering dropping Lay on Hands and Bear's Fortitude entirely for Blinding Strike and Confounding Blind, because the accuracy bonus to Blinding Strike is pretty good for a two Guile attack, and I like the idea of having a longer duration Blind for boss fights. Thoughts? 

[Cyrus_Blackfeather]

Also, how badly was Sungrazer nerfed? Would it still make an okay OH weapon or is it just not worth using anymore? 

[colma86]

I like it enchanted for the AoEs, but they’re all decent...2s stun on crit is nice but probably better for a berserker or something.

 

There are a lot of decent options for off hand...kapana taga and squids grasp make decent tanking picks.

[Cyrus_Blackfeather]

I like it enchanted for the AoEs, but they’re all decent...2s stun on crit is nice but probably better for a berserker or something.

 

There are a lot of decent options for off hand...kapana taga and squids grasp make decent tanking picks.

 

How big is Kapana Taga? In the preview, it looks huge - would it and Magran's Favor go well together? 

[thundercleese]

Similar size to swords etc.

[Cyrus_Blackfeather]

Similar size to swords etc.

 

Oh, okay! Yeah, I saw that it was basically just a club-sword. It seems like a pretty neat weapon, shame it's not a fast one.

 

I've pretty much settled on DoC Breastplate throughout the whole game, it seems to give decent-enough armor. And as people have said, a mixed-martial class can make REALLY good use of it. Plus it looks pretty cool. 

 

I take it full plate is more for solo runs when you need every point of armor/you don't have someone else providing support for you? 

[Dorftek]

Kapana taga only get 10 pen