Devoted fighter. Is it worth it?

[XEternalXDreamsX]

Unbroken is useless for players. You might as well read it as +1 engagement + 1 AR IF with shield, then you have all the negatives.

That disengagement is useless since enemies don't disengage when they get engaged, and theres no way to force a disengage attack.

I feel like if there were ways to force disengage by push skills or some afflictions, I'd be perfectly content with negative Reflex. It would turn the Disengagement bonus from "Eh" to very useful. Maybe cheesy but overall pretty cool.

[Boeroer]

Terrifying worked to trigger disengagement attacks. Thus an Unbroken/Wizard was pretty great. It got patched because it was too powerful.

 

"Is useless for players"... meh. Biased hyperbole I'd say.

 

I recently played an Unbroken/Trickster and it's hot. Enemies will leave engagement if disengagement poses no threat. As Unbroken with good dmg per hit your disengagement attacks will be a threat. Thus once-engaged enemies will stick to you. Which is great for a tank. See the +10PEN on your disengagement attacks as "glue" and not as a dmg tool. Add up engagement slots bit don't use Defender Stance but Mob Stance. Passive +1 AR is great. Stacks with everything.

 

At the same time the Trickster part adds defenses and dmg potential as well as engagement and causes Persistent Distraction on all engaged targets which triggers Deathblows and Sneak Attack. Riposte with Akola's Apex Ward (adds another Riposte) will make sure you hit passively often enough.

 

Now you are a tank whose disengagement attacks are crazily powerful (+10 PEN, Sneak Attack, Deathblows, improved ACC and dmg on disengagement anyways) but who also hits pretty fast with constant Sneak Attacks + Deathblows (Mob Stance + Reckless Brigandine works pretty well) while also doing Ripostes with Sneak + Deathblows and suddenly enemies want to leave because every kill also triggers Cleave. While doing so they get pulverized if you also took the passive for more disengagement damage.

 

It's a nice combo. Great tanking (which includes being sticky) as well as great offense. And it wouldn't work as well without Unbroken.

 

Reflex malus and lower stride don't matter much once you trigger the Wall modal.

Edited September 4, 2018 by Boeroer

[Somnium_Meum]

Terrifying worked to trigger disengagement attacks. Thus an Unbroken/Wizard was pretty great. It got patched because it was too powerful.

 

"Is useless for players"... meh. Biased hyperbole I'd say.

 

I recently played an Unbroken/Trickster and it's hot. Enemies will leave engagement if disengagement poses no threat. As Unbroken with good dmg per hit your disengagement attacks will be a threat. Thus once-engaged enemies will stick to you. Which is great for a tank. See the +10PEN on your disengagement attacks as "glue" and not as a dmg tool. Add up engagement slots bit don't use Defender Stance but Mob Stance. Passive +1 AR is great. Stacks with everything.

 

At the same time the Trickster part adds defenses and dmg potential as well as engagement and causes Persistent Distraction on all engaged targets which triggers Deathblows and Sneak Attack. Riposte with Akola's Apex Ward (adds another Riposte) will make sure you hit passively often enough.

 

Now you are a tank whose disengagement attacks are crazily powerful (+10 PEN, Sneak Attack, Deathblows, improved ACC and dmg on disengagement anyways) but who also hits pretty fast with constant Sneak Attacks + Deathblows (Mob Stance + Reckless Brigandine works pretty well) while also doing Ripostes with Sneak + Deathblows and suddenly enemies want to leave because every kill also triggers Cleave. While doing so they get pulverized if you also took the passive for more disengagement damage.

 

It's a nice combo. Great tanking (which includes being sticky) as well as great offense. And it wouldn't work as well without Unbroken.

 

Reflex malus and lower stride don't matter much once you trigger the Wall modal.

 

I mean, yeah, it's nice to have unkillable glue-like tank, but in reality it's often unnecessary.

 

There are scripted encounters where your Tank can pick up 4-5 enemies an the rest will run to your ranged characters and engage them while ranged enemies shoot them to death.  Ship Fights, open maps and encounters in which enemies spawn behind you are primary examples of this

 

Then there are encounters that allow you using bottlenecks to hold aggro and prevent enemies from reaching your back line. This is very tank - friendly, since you don't have more than 2-3 engagers at once and enemies can't advance without killing the tank. The only challenge here is ranged enemies focusing your tank which can be fixed by Large Shield

 

Next you have special encounters, such as first major encounter in Hasongo where you can't really tank

 

Finally there are encounters with moderate-low amount of enemies and simple rules. Most of these are boss fights, but bosses are very unlikely to disengage and they're often too slow to do so.

So you see, having nearly immortal tank isn't as useful in many encounters. Having flexibility and utility is much better, which is why i dislike Unbroken.

[Boeroer]

Why is he not flexible? He's a fighter after all - just with lower stride (who cares) and lower Reflex (there are worse disadvantages). The +1 AR usually means -25% dmg and the +10 PEN on disengagement is a nice bonus on top to keep engaged enemies from rushing.

 

Glueing 4-5 enemies in place where they can't do much harm is like a very effective hard CC effect. I don't play with backline glascannons (it's just ineffective) so I don't have any problem if some enemies rush past the tank once he took 4 or 5 enemies. 4 or five less is crucial. It's also crucial because I can use AoE attacks way better if a lot of enemies surround a character.

 

I find all fighter subclasses to be useful. Unbroken is no exception.

[Elric Galad]

I still hope to see a couple of Black Jacket builds, possibly not just quickswitching ones.

 

Something like Arquebus / Rod / Morningstar / Estoc just to take advantage of the diversity of modals and weapon properties.

[Boeroer]

I'm playing one (single class) Black Jacket debuffer with Morning Star (-25 fort), Flail (-25 reflex) + large shield, Club (-25 will) + Mace (-1 AR) and Pike (-10 deflection). Single class because I wanted Clear Out asap for AoE debuffs.

 

I'm wearing Fleshmender because it's the only black jacket in the game. And because I don't need to take Arms Bearer then... 

[Rhaegon]

I recently played an Unbroken/Trickster and it's hot. Enemies will leave engagement if disengagement poses no threat. As Unbroken with good dmg per hit your disengagement attacks will be a threat. Thus once-engaged enemies will stick to you. Which is great for a tank. See the +10PEN on your disengagement attacks as "glue" and not as a dmg tool. Add up engagement slots bit don't use Defender Stance but Mob Stance. Passive +1 AR is great. Stacks with everything.

 

At the same time the Trickster part adds defenses and dmg potential as well as engagement and causes Persistent Distraction on all engaged targets which triggers Deathblows and Sneak Attack. Riposte with Akola's Apex Ward (adds another Riposte) will make sure you hit passively often enough.

 

Now you are a tank whose disengagement attacks are crazily powerful (+10 PEN, Sneak Attack, Deathblows, improved ACC and dmg on disengagement anyways) but who also hits pretty fast with constant Sneak Attacks + Deathblows (Mob Stance + Reckless Brigandine works pretty well) while also doing Ripostes with Sneak + Deathblows and suddenly enemies want to leave because every kill also triggers Cleave. While doing so they get pulverized if you also took the passive for more disengagement damage.

 

It's a nice combo. Great tanking (which includes being sticky) as well as great offense. And it wouldn't work as well without Unbroken.

 

Hi Boeroer, would you mind sharing what you idealise as attribute distribution for such a character (and maybe most important abilities)? I've been restarting the game over and over, trying to find a main character build that I "click" with. I liked what you described but not sure how to implement it. Thanks in advance.

[peolone]

I'm playing one (single class) Black Jacket debuffer with Morning Star (-25 fort), Flail (-25 reflex) + large shield, Club (-25 will) + Mace (-1 AR) and Pike (-10 deflection). Single class because I wanted Clear Out asap for AoE debuffs.

 

I'm wearing Fleshmender because it's the only black jacket in the game. And because I don't need to take Arms Bearer then... 

 

How does Clear Out work while dual wielding? Do both debuffs get applied with just one swing? 

Edited September 5, 2018 by peolone

[Elric Galad]

Clear Out is a Primary attack, so no. Only main hand is applied.

[Lampros]

Why is he not flexible? He's a fighter after all - just with lower stride (who cares) and lower Reflex (there are worse disadvantages). The +1 AR usually means -25% dmg and the +10 PEN on disengagement is a nice bonus on top to keep engaged enemies from rushing.

 

Glueing 4-5 enemies in place where they can't do much harm is like a very effective hard CC effect. I don't play with backline glascannons (it's just ineffective) so I don't have any problem if some enemies rush past the tank once he took 4 or 5 enemies. 4 or five less is crucial. It's also crucial because I can use AoE attacks way better if a lot of enemies surround a character.

 

I find all fighter subclasses to be useful. Unbroken is no exception.

 

Just curious: What then is your typical party formation, if you have no back-line glass cannons?

[Boeroer]

I have no typical party formation. I just don't play "main tank + squishies". One glass cannon is ok since you can manage to keep him/her alive without too much hassle.

 

Enemies will look for certain values to decide whom they attack. For example low AR, deflection or health. If you present them a party member with low AR, low deflection and small health pool there will be a guarantee that every enemy in an encounter would like to attack Special Ed.

 

I try to give the backline guys either a shield, powerful healing or good AR.

 

That makes all that rushing and "escaping" to my backline somewhat manageable. Enemies are more likely to stick to my front line even though they are not engaged.

 

Xoti as pure priest is a front liner in medium armor for me by the way. Works well enough if she's not the first to stick her head out of stealth. The "useless" Litany for the Mind gives her Concentration every 6 secs.

[Lampros]

 

Then there is the -10 accuracey with all other weapons. This sucks as it will deter you against using other weapons. In the course of the game you will be penalised for using situational weapons say like the animancers energy blade against bosses.

 

Some players are boring and don't change weapons so they won't suffer this penalty. They'll most likely select a weapon with 2 damage types making that +2 PEN bonus only +1 in practice.

 

 

This sounds like me

[Lampros]

By the way, I wish Devoted gave slightly more - maybe an extra +5 Accuracy?