[Class Build] Armorbreaker

[Lampros]

On 8/27/2018 at 11:45 AM, Clerith said:

Waist: Gwyn’s Bridal Garter

 

I always wonder about this in your builds. 

 

Otherwise? Looks like a well written, very solid build. If you have a party, I'd perhaps argue against picking Knockdown and Mule Kick, since someone else could do the interrupting, and it's not like wizards can survive against you in melee for long. You can almost perma juggle some tough enemies, however. It's a personal choice, I've never like it on straight fighters, though love it with Spirit Lance, but well, aoe.

 

For Fighter/Rogue I also pick Crippling Strikes and Escape and never upgrade them. Escape is simple, since the upgrades make it cost way too much Guile and you don't need the stealth, but Crippling Strikes is often upgraded. However, if you just wait a few levels, you can get the distraction from a passive, and the bleed of the other upgrade is weak, and does nothing if the enemy's not moving, and since you can only attack in melee range... yeah, it feels useless. So why not just save the point for something good.

Regarding Escape: I don't get it. Wouldn't a Fighter - whether pure or multi-class - want to keep Engagements active?

And OP: What do you think about replacing Streetfighter with Trickster? I like more balanced characters; and the Streetfighter's Recovery bonus won't mean as much, because I play turn-based. Moreover, how about replacing estocs with greatswords? Again, I am lazy and prefer weapon versatility than frenetically switch weapons every encounter!

[Lampros]

On 8/28/2018 at 3:01 AM, Boeroer said:

Or pick a Morning Star and use Mule Kick all the time. The dual damage, the +2 PEN, Disciplined Strikes and the -25 fort often lead to lots of crits which solve most PEN issues. And Mule Kick is so cheap. With Devil of Caroc Breastplate and Bracers of Discipline I can kick like a mule forever it seems.

 

Seriously: for me they are the stars of two handed weapons - even if there are no jawdropping uniques. Pun intended. Also because there are so many enemies with stellar fortitude that prevents so many awesome spells/abilities to land.

 

 

 

They look so ugly and awkward though. (And yes, aesthetics matter for me.)

I also do not understand why there are no greataxes and mauls in this game. (I know there are 2 2H unique axes, but I'd like to have that option from the get-go.)

[Boeroer]

Amra is one of them and you can get it pretty early. 

[Lampros]

8 minutes ago, Boeroer said:

Amra is one of them and you can get it pretty early. 

Hmm, I am so senile I don't even recall where a particular location fits in your leveling. So I just figured the area was a high level area. In that case, I might run a dual 2H front-line with a greatsword Fighter/Rogue (Aragorn) and a 2H axe character (Gimli).

[Boeroer]

Amra can simply be bought in Dunnage. If you have the 50.000 pands from Berath Blessings you can basically sail there right away after Port Maje and buy it. Iirc it is not possible to steal it(?).

For Amra you want a build that can reach 25 MIG without too much fuss. E.g. picking Dwarf from Living Lands with 21 MIG and +4 MIG from food and item. Or if you don't want to max MIG right away then maybe Helwalker (+1 MIG per wound) or Barb (+5 MIG from Frenzy). Consider that running into guys with Arcane Dampener will remove active buffs (like Frenzy) but not passive ones (Helwalker, items, food). So it's better to reach 25 MIG with those in order to not lose the Amra-Carnage mid fight.

 

Edited October 15, 2020 by Boeroer

[Elric Galad]

1 hour ago, Boeroer said:

Consider that running into guys with Arcane Dampener will remove active buffs (like Frenzy) but not passive ones (Helwalker, items, food). So it's better to reach 25 MIG with those in order to not lose the Amra-Carnage mid fight.

 

Warning from the Stacking Rule Police !
Do not spread confusion between Active/Passive (which is based on source) and Duration/Infinite effects.

Most Passive have infinite duration, but not all of them (wall of flashing steel, DIstracting training).

Some Active abilities (food count as Active) have infinite duration. But they still don't stack.

Arcane Dampener remove effect with a duration. Not active effects. That said, your examples are (of course correct).   

Edited October 15, 2020 by Elric Galad

[Lampros]

4 hours ago, Boeroer said:

Amra can simply be bought in Dunnage. If you have the 50.000 pands from Berath Blessings you can basically sail there right away after Port Maje and buy it. Iirc it is not possible to steal it(?).

For Amra you want a build that can reach 25 MIG without too much fuss. E.g. picking Dwarf from Living Lands with 21 MIG and +4 MIG from food and item. Or if you don't want to max MIG right away then maybe Helwalker (+1 MIG per wound) or Barb (+5 MIG from Frenzy). Consider that running into guys with Arcane Dampener will remove active buffs (like Frenzy) but not passive ones (Helwalker, items, food). So it's better to reach 25 MIG with those in order to not lose the Amra-Carnage mid fight.

 

How strong is Brute these days? I thought the build was severely nerfed from release, but if I play "Gimli," Fighter/Barbarian is the route I'd take.

Edit: Also, is the "Gore" feature from Amra friendly-fire capable or enemy only?

Edited October 15, 2020 by Lampros

[Haplok]

12 hours ago, Lampros said:

Regarding Escape: I don't get it. Wouldn't a Fighter - whether pure or multi-class - want to keep Engagements active?

And OP: What do you think about replacing Streetfighter with Trickster? I like more balanced characters; and the Streetfighter's Recovery bonus won't mean as much, because I play turn-based. Moreover, how about replacing estocs with greatswords? Again, I am lazy and prefer weapon versatility than frenetically switch weapons every encounter!

Escape is a fantastic mobility tool. Also a Free Action in Turn based. Plus it temporarily gives you a +50 Deflection bonus. For my Streetfighter multiclass one of its main uses was teleporting into the middle of enemy ranks, to get surrounded and get Flanking and maybe also Blooded bonuses (needs Unbending to be done rather safely; of course Barring the Death's Door would also work).

 Trickster would be a good alternative I guess, particularly for the Turn Based mode (illusion buffs are Free Actions I believe). Then again, it was largely about killing enemies rapidly with Streetfighter speed - which cannot be done in Turn Based. One strike per round is kinda... really unimpressive. A character almost needs strong aoe/spells to be effective in this mode. OR... a Riposte Swashbuckler works really well (but I think you need the Community Patch so that also Grazes can trigger Ripostes).

Greatswords? I've found them rather meh. Engoliero de Espirs is awesome and Eager Blade very good and available early. Plus with Greatswords you'd no longer qualify for Overpenetration damage bonus often. Fighting the likes of golems with high AR would be a pain (unless you switch to a blunt...). YMMV. With very high Penetration, the issue of Piercing immunity is hardly a problem. A few high tier Skeletons and a few Lurkers require weapon switching/switching to a fist. The rest of the enemies do not pose a problem.

[Lampros]

9 minutes ago, Haplok said:

 

 Trickster would be a good alternative I guess, particularly for the Turn Based mode (illusion buffs are Free Actions I believe). Then again, it was largely about killing enemies rapidly with Streetfighter speed - which cannot be done in Turn Based. One strike per round is kinda... really unimpressive. A character almost needs strong aoe/spells to be effective in this mode. OR... a Riposte Swashbuckler works really well (but I think you need the Community Patch so that also Grazes can trigger Ripostes).

 

 

So what would you suggest as a fast killing melee character in turn-based? Would it have to be something like Barbarian multi-class with an AoE-centric build then?

[Haplok]

Personally I don't think its possible to make a fast killing melee in Turn Based. Closest to this would be

- monk or shadowdancer boasting Swift Flurry (eventually Heartbeat Drumming) with very high Accuracy and crit frquency to cause Swift Flurry crit/proc chains,

- riposte tank who jumps into the middle of enemy ranks, dodges enemy attacks and makes multiple retaliations per round. Some rogue multiclass, perhaps a Trickster swashbuckler.

 

Otherwise a single/dual attack per round really won't cut it and will be nowhere near what the casters can accomplish in the same round.

Edited October 15, 2020 by Haplok

[Lampros]

2 minutes ago, Haplok said:

Personally I don't think its possible to make a fast killing melee in Turn Based. Closest to this would be

- monk or shadowdancer boasting Swift Flurry (eventually Heartbeat Drumming) with very high Accuracy and crit frquency to cause Swift Flurry crit/proc chains,

- riposte tank who jumps into the middle of enemy ranks, dodges enemy attacks and makes multiple retaliations per round. Some rogue multiclass, perhaps a Trickster swashbuckler.

Hmm, but I thought the boost to grazes makes ripostes very unlikely. But then I should have very high Deflection with a Trickster Swashbuckler...

[Haplok]

Yeah, you may need the Community Patch to riposte effectively. I do use the CP and Eder swashbuckler with Tuotilo's Palm (use modal to get +15 attack after miss, also the enchant that provides another retaliation chance) + Magran's Favor (again, use the most brutal modals, as recovery time is no longer important) or a scimitar was VERY effective at Ripostes. Think he also was wearing Gipon Prudensco, that can provide a lot of extra Deflection and Reflex too. And he's not even a Trickster, so I imagine an optimized character can be much better.

Edited October 15, 2020 by Haplok

[Lampros]

1 minute ago, Haplok said:

Yeah, you may need the Community Patch to riposte effectively. I do use the CP and Eder swashbuckler with Tuotilo's Palm + Magran's Favor or a scimitar was VERY effective at Ripostes. And he's not even a Trickster, so I imagine an optimized character can be much better.

Does the Community Patch affect turn-based?

[Haplok]

Sure, its modifications are universal and not targeted at any specific play mode.

[Lampros]

1 minute ago, Haplok said:

Sure, its modifications are universal and not targeted at any specific play mode.

Ah, awesome; thanks!

Now I have to decide if the other changes from the Community Patch are worth accepting

[Boeroer]

For the CP I drew unique icons for every passive in the game - which makes leveling up less confusing. Also it was a ****-ton of work. That alone should be reason enough for you to install it immediately.

[AndreaColombo]

They do look plenty pretty

[Lampros]

On 10/15/2020 at 12:01 PM, AndreaColombo said:

They do look plenty pretty

Where exactly do I put your save for PoE 1 record?

Edit: Wrong thread. I just got up, and I had two instances of this forum opened.

Edited October 18, 2020 by Lampros