Geomancer Maia

[jintegrity]

So in my first file I made Maia a Geomancer because "Wizard is always good." However, I had no idea what to do with her at the time, read about how optimal Scout is due to the access to a lot of Full-Attacks that combine well with her subclass, and decided that Geomancer was the trap option on her.

However, upon learning more, I think Maia has an excellent class combination for a dedicated debuffer. Marked for the Hunt > Eldritch Aim > Miasma of Dull-Mindedness equals a massive -20 Reflex, -40 Will. (With a Cipher in your party [a use for Serafen!], this initial debuff can allow you to reliably stack an additional -20 Will via Tenuous Grasp for a total of -60 Will.)

With the enemy now having -40 Will (or more with support from other party members), targeting that save to debuff other saves becomes much easier.

Arkemyr's Dazzling Lights > Fetid Caress for targeting Fortitude (seems weak, but there's actually not a lot of lower level options for debuffing Fortitude that I've found).

Curse of Blackened Sight > Binding Web for targeting Reflex.

All of this is available as soon as you recruit her with proper spell choice and grimoire acquisition.

For things to do with the reduced saves: a low Reflex allows for Slicken, and makes spells like Tekehu's Blizzard that much more effective. Low Fortitude makes the Chill Fog + Combusting Wounds combo better. Low Will tends to be more of a facilitator than an end goal, but your Cipher/Chanter will surely love it.

- and once the enemy is properly debuffed, she is still a good steady interrupter with her Ranger-subclass, so it's not like she's just a Ranger/Wizard.

I guess I just wanted to show that Geomancer Maia's definitely strong, and has a solid niche. Sure Wizard/Battlemage Aloth can produce similar results, but his strength is more in saving early spell slots via Tactical Barrage (if Battlemage: removing the need for Eldritch Aim + Infuse with Vital Essence) than having high accuracy to initiate debuff chains as Marked for the Hunt + Eldritch Aim stack.

Also, as I originally thought, it's not like Wizard is ever a bad class.

Edited August 29, 2018 by jintegrity

[mosspit]

I also like DoAM or Fleet Foot to hasten her actions for faster attacks or casting. And I am sure I can find spell interactions with Driving Flight for her as well.

 

Only thing is that her int is kinda low. When I tried to do AoE targeting, the "friendly" zone tend to be quite small unless her Int is somehow intentionally raised.

Edited August 29, 2018 by mosspit

[Metaturtle]

I tend to like rangers when it comes to landing valuable debuffs since the combined passives with the pet and abilities stack up high. Maia does alright as an enchanter too to augment her ranged dps.

Edited August 29, 2018 by Metaturtle

[jintegrity]

Only thing is that her int is kinda low. When I tried to do AoE targeting, the "friendly" zone tend to be quite small unless her Int is somehow intentionally raised.

Good thing that Infuse With Vital Essence exists.

[Teclis23]

So in my first file I made Maia a Geomancer because "Wizard is always good." However, I had no idea what to do with her at the time, read about how optimal Scout is due to the access to a lot of Full-Attacks that combine well with her subclass, and decided that Geomancer was the trap option on her.

 

However, upon learning more, I think Maia has an excellent class combination for a dedicated debuffer. Marked for the Hunt > Eldritch Aim > Miasma of Dull-Mindedness equals a massive -20 Reflex, -40 Will. (With a Cipher in your party [a use for Serafen!], this initial debuff can allow you to reliably stack an additional -20 Will via Tenuous Grasp for a total of -60 Will.)

 

With the enemy now having -40 Will (or more with support from other party members), targeting that save to debuff other saves becomes much easier.

 

Arkemyr's Dazzling Lights > Fetid Caress for targeting Fortitude (seems weak, but there's actually not a lot of lower level options for debuffing Fortitude that I've found).

 

Curse of Blackened Sight > Binding Web for targeting Reflex.

 

All of this is available as soon as you recruit her with proper spell choice and grimoire acquisition.

 

For things to do with the reduced saves: a low Reflex allows for Slicken, and makes spells like Tekehu's Blizzard that much more effective. Low Fortitude makes the Chill Fog + Combusting Wounds combo better. Low Will tends to be more of a facilitator than an end goal, but your Cipher/Chanter will surely love it.

 

- and once the enemy is properly debuffed, she is still a good steady interrupter with her Ranger-subclass, so it's not like she's just a Ranger/Wizard.

 

I guess I just wanted to show that Geomancer Maia's definitely strong, and has a solid niche. Sure Wizard/Battlemage Aloth can produce similar results, but his strength is more in saving early spell slots via Tactical Barrage (if Battlemage: removing the need for Eldritch Aim + Infuse with Vital Essence) than having high accuracy to initiate debuff chains as Marked for the Hunt + Eldritch Aim stack.

 

Also, as I originally thought, it's not like Wizard is ever a bad class.

There are alot of ways to bring down will 

 

Fortitude is the best one to bring down and the hardest. Amplified wave and disintegrate both target Fort

 

Find a good and easy way to do that and your laughing

Edited August 30, 2018 by Teclis23

[Somnium_Meum]

Actually reducing Fortitude is easy and extremely rewarding.

Chanter has weaken Phrase that decreases CON by 5 and MIG by 2, so that's pulsing -14 Fortitude AoE.

 

Morning star Modal decreases Fortitude by -25 on graze/hit...

 

BW with Mortars can spam AoE sickened (-10 Fortitude) very well.

 

Building party around Fort is amazing. Wizards are amazing thanks to Combusting Wounds, Barbs can attack fort instead of deflection, Xoti's harvest becomes super reliable, monk's abilities land efforflessly etc.

[Boeroer]

Fighters can lower fortitude in an AoE with Clear Out + Body Blows - and Mule Kick gets +10 ACC and targets fortitude.

 

Barbs with Spirit Frenzy + Barbaric Roar (the circle-shaped one). Can lower enemies' fortitude in a huge AoE by -10 because he applies staggered (and shaken). Brute Force makes sure you crit the pulp out of stuff then if you also use Body Blows. Brute with Morning Star (was my first playthrough) is THE fort killer. Also a will killer because of the Willbreaker's enchantments and shaken, but that's only a bonus.

 

It's also nice that from lvl 1 on you can profit a lot from the synergy of Body Blows + Knockdown (later Mule Kick).

 

Hm... maybe I should make a build description and call it "The Fort Killer".

 

Add a Chanter with that awesome chant and lots of enemies have very low fortitude. A Chanter also profits a lot from the reduced will the barb can provide (see Killer Froze Stiff).

 

How did we get here when talking about Geomancer though?

Edited August 30, 2018 by Boeroer

[Sobric]

Not tried Maia has a Geomancer yet, Scout just seems so good. I will definitely try though! 

 

Boeroer, how does Body Blows interact with Knockdown/Mule Kick? Do you need to land a hit first to lower Fort,then Knockdown/Mule Kick?

[jintegrity]

To be fair, when I made the claim above, I was talking in the context of PL1-2. I should have made that clear.

I tend to value lower PR stuff because I have restartitis and never get to some of those other things they're options that'll be available your entire playthrough.

I will definitely look into the list of Fort' stuff mentioned above. I'm definitely learning to dig the idea of a heavily buff/debuff-centric playstyle. Can't wait to cheese the Engwithan Digsite via a 24 PER Loremaster with Eldritch Aim > Miasma of Dull-Mindedness > At the Sound of His Voice, the Killers Froze Stiff.

Anyway, I just thought I'd show Geomancer Maia's potential because I'd read a lot about Scout Maia after making mine Geomancer, and felt that she needed some representation too.

[Stardusk78]

Maia's Low intellect really makes it kind of meh for me to make her a Geomancer, though that is just my humble opinion.

[jintegrity]

Maia's Low intellect really makes it kind of meh for me to make her a Geomancer, though that is just my humble opinion.

I can see that. In my mind, she's best as the initiator of a debuff chain (I'll be a Loremaster, will definitely have Tekehu, and will be considering one of Aloth/Pallegina/Serafen), due to her high Accuracy to make that first debuff stick. Once you've given an enemy -40 Will, it's a lot easier, as I showed above, to debuff from there. It's extremely reasonable, preferable even, to follow up those debuffs with someone with more INT.

 

Maybe, even on PotD, you don't need her for that job. However, this is less of a Maia Geomancer > Scout thread, and more of a "Maia Geomancer has a niche and is viable".

 

My first thought was to put a +2 INT item on her, and add Infuse With Vital Essence into her opening buffs, but I'll admit that only gets her to 17 INT, which is hardly spectacular.

 

She may not even make the cut in my current playthrough. I certainly don't want her costing me 500 gold trying to get those fancy guns in the Neketaka port.

Edited August 30, 2018 by jintegrity

[gkathellar]

She's perfectly serviceable as a Geomancer, yes. I don't think anyone has claimed otherwise - if they have, they're wrong. Hell, early after release, the grimoire system and the existence of blightheart were both widely put forth as reasons to go geomancer. The conventional thinking has changed - scout's debuffing and DoT options have been better-explored at this point, and people are actually paying attention to those PL 8-9 powers on single-class rangers - but I haven't seen any claims that geomancer doesn't work for her.

[Boeroer]

Boeroer, how does Body Blows interact with Knockdown/Mule Kick? Do you need to land a hit first to lower Fort,then Knockdown/Mule Kick?

Body Blows as a modal lowers fort by 25 no matter which weapon ability you use with the morning star. If the enemies' fortitude is already not more than 10 points higher than deflection you can also start with Mule Kick (which targets Fortitude) right away. The 10 points because Mule Kick has +10 ACC. If the fortitude is higher than that I would start with a weapon attack that targets deflection. After that usually fortitude is lower than deflection. There are some enemies that have such high discrepancy between deflection and fortitude that this doesn't work out though and it's better to stick to attacks that target deflection - and to turn off Body Blows.

Edited August 30, 2018 by Boeroer

[Dr. Hieronymous Alloy]

 

Boeroer, how does Body Blows interact with Knockdown/Mule Kick? Do you need to land a hit first to lower Fort,then Knockdown/Mule Kick?

Body Blows as a modal lowers fort by 25 no matter which weapon ability you use with the morning star. If the enemies' fortitude is already not more than 10 points higher than deflection you can also start with Mule Kick (which targets Fortitude) right away. The 10 points because Mule Kick has +10 ACC. If the fortitude is higher than that I would start with a weapon attack that targets deflection. After that usually fortitude is lower than deflection. There are some enemies that have such high discrepancy between deflection and fortitude that this doesn't work out though and it's better to stick to attacks that target deflection - and to turn off Body Blows.

 

 

 

Interesting, I thought it would only apply the modal to the "primary" target with things like Clear Out.  Definitely something I'll try out when I do my next Battlemage Aloth run.

 

 

As to Maia, yeah, she just adds a lot of versatility to the party. I build her with almost all her actual skill choices in Ranger, especially the accuracy bonuses, then swap out grimoires as necessary -- being able to pop in an Arcane Dampener or Expose Vulnerabilities on a difficult target is just too useful to pass up. I usually prefer Aloth as my caster anyway, but sometimes I want to swap in Maia for particular quests, so when she's along anyway she might as well be useful. 

 

Also helps to have her well-built so she's effective in ship boarding fights.

Edited August 30, 2018 by Dr. Hieronymous Alloy

[Boeroer]

All AoE attacks that use the weapon will cause Body Blows on all targets. Carnage, Torment's Reach etc. will not, but Clear Out, Whispers of the Wind, Whirling Strikes, Heart of Fury will afaik. Recently I only tested Clear Out though. The rest I tested some time ago.

Edited August 31, 2018 by Boeroer