Sasha's Singing Scimitar

[XEternalXDreamsX]

I'm sorry to bother everyone with such questions. I was wondering a few things. I will be running a pure Chanter.

 

What upgrades does this weapon have that you would recommend and any of the upgrades mutually exclusive?

 

If I am running a Skald single handed with this weapon, is it viable (with the natural ACC boost and One Handed Style) or would be better with a shield (not going to dual wield)?

 

Again, I'm sorry if I come off ignorant but I'm currently theory crafting builds while playing PoE 1 until I begin Deadfire.

 

P.S.-

As a pure Skald, are their better alternatives via Two Handed? Or is dual wielding always the go to ...if so, any recommendations?

 

By the way, I will not be running Path of the Damned.

Edited September 21, 2018 by XEternalXDreamsX

[Boeroer]

Hi, the enchantments are:

 

Finale (already has) --> Encore: after empowering an Invocation get max phrase points

 

Finale (aleady has) --> Refreshing Finale: after empowering an invocation you get back 3 phrases AND the empower point. 

 

Prelude (already has) --> Companion's Prelude: 5m-aura that gives you and your allies +2% stacking attack speed bonus per held phrase point

 

Prelude (already has) --> Shocking Prelude: give yourself (not allies) 2% attack speed per phrase point held and +2% shocking lash per phrase point held.

 

For a single Skald I would recommend Refreshing Finale. This turns Empower into a 1/encounter ability basically AND gives you back 3 phrases. And a single chanter can get Eld Nary - which is supergood when empowered. You can mix that with the high level passives which grant +PEN, +ACC when using empower. It's pretty sweet.

 

For the upgrade of Prelude it depends... as a Skald who wants to attack in melee I would pick Shocking Prelude most of the time I guess. Lashes are strong.

 

You coul dual wield Sasha's with Scordeo's Edge whith Blade Cascade and Adaptive which are quite nice enchantments for a Skald.  Another nice alternative could be Grave Calling with Chilling Grave: if you kill your own skeletons (summons) with it you will automatically cast an enemy-only Chillfog which profits from the weapon's enchantments. And Grave Bound works a bit like Shocking Prelude (stacking 2% freezing lash on hit 10 times - then paralyze on every crit).

 

Both nice. I would have to test a lot to say which one I'd like better as buddy of Sasha's.

 

Of course you can pair Sasha's with other weapon types, too. I just think that two sabres look best...

Edited September 21, 2018 by Boeroer

[XEternalXDreamsX]

Hi, the enchantments are:

 

Finale (already has) --> Encore: after empowering an Invocation get max phrase points

 

Finale (aleady has) --> Refreshing Finale: after empowering an invocation you get back 3 phrases AND the empower point.

 

Prelude (already has) --> Companion's Prelude: 5m-aura that gives you and your allies +2% stacking attack speed bonus per held phrase point

 

Prelude (already has) --> Shocking Prelude: give yourself (not allies) 2% attack speed per phrase point held and +2% shocking lash per phrase point held.

 

For a single Skald I would recommend Refreshing Finale. This turns Empower into a 1/encounter ability basically AND gives you back 3 phrases. And a single chanter can get Eld Nary - which is supergood when empowered. You can mix that with the high level passives which grant +PEN, +ACC when using empower. It's pretty sweet.

 

For the upgrade of Prelude it depends... as a Skald who wants to attack in melee I would pick Shocking Prelude most of the time I guess. Lashes are strong.

 

You coul dual wield Sasha's with Scordeo's Edge whith Blade Cascade and Adaptive which are quite nice enchantments for a Skald. Another nice alternative could be Grave Calling with Chilling Grave: if you kill your own skeletons (summons) with it you will automatically cast an enemy-only Chillfog which profits from the weapon's enchantments. And Grave Bound works a bit like Shocking Prelude (stacking 2% freezing lash on hit 10 times - then paralyze on every crit).

 

Both nice. I would have to test a lot to say which one I'd like better as buddy of Sasha's.

 

Of course you can pair Sasha's with other weapon types, too. I just think that two sabres look best...

Thanks, bro. I appreciate everything. I'm going to try all of what you recommended. You are a Pillar of this community.

[Metaturtle]

I want to add that the Shocking Prelude enchant adds a lightning lash to all damage you do including your spells/scrolls/bombs so it benefits even a pure spellcaster although it goes into the weird catch of needing phrases to get lash damage and vice versa. :9

Edited September 21, 2018 by Metaturtle

[Boeroer]

Hey, I didn't know that. Sweet! That means Grave Calling-->Chilling Grave which does a Chillfog for every skelly that falls by your hand will have +shocking lash and you don't even need to spend phrases for that.

[Metaturtle]

Hey, I didn't know that. Sweet! That means Grave Calling-->Chilling Grave which does a Chillfog for every skelly that falls by your hand will have +shocking lash and you don't even need to spend phrases for that.

 

Yah :D  I noticed it on my loremaster when I saw my fireball somehow had a lightning lash added to it.  The other items that have a blanket damage lash that I know of is Blightheart soulbounded to a Wizard for a corrode type and of course the well known Deltro's helm's lightning type.  So the next level chillfog after that would be to have deltro's helm and have something shock you. !!

Edited September 21, 2018 by Metaturtle

[Kaylon]

Personally I wouldn't recommend Sasha's Scimitar to a skald. The empowering ability is nice but it works once per encounter. The other ability however is based on the number of phrases you have and if you're using offensive evocations often your bonus will be very small. To generate phrases through criticals there are 3 weapons I would consider: Rannig's Wrath (highest accuracy), Min's Fortune (chance to crit is increasing with every hit) and Sun and Moon (hits twice).

 

PS. I know you said you want to play single class chanter, but maybe you should also consider a chanter/monk for their great synergy (the monk adds 10int, fire lash to your offensive invocations and has a chance to hit twice with melee attacks) which helps the skald more than another 2 PL as a chanter. The monk can equip also a small shield which uses his fists accuracy for hits giving you the chance to generate more phrases on top of higher defenses.

[Haplok]

Looses access to PL VIII and IX invocations though...

[Boeroer]

You obviously never casted an empowered Eld Nary with lots of general PL bonus, +1 PEN and +10 ACC once every encounter - without the need for resting.

 

My pick would be a single class Troubadour by the way - but I guess the Skald is set.

Edited September 21, 2018 by Boeroer

[XEternalXDreamsX]

You obviously never casted an empowered Eld Nary with lots of general PL bonus, +1 PEN and +10 ACC once every encounter - without the need for resting.

 

My pick would be a single class Troubadour by the way - but I guess the Skald is set.

Oh, nah, Skald isn't set. The only thing I really don't want to do is Multiclass (nothing against it ..even I figure there are better combos than pure class) The only reason I was going to pick Skald is because I'm primarily (if not always) going to use offensive invocations so the cost is overall cheaper with a nice chance to gain phrases with crits. I was looking at it as having no downsides plus I'll be in melee to cast my invocations. How does a Troubadour perform?

[XEternalXDreamsX]

Personally I wouldn't recommend Sasha's Scimitar to a skald. The empowering ability is nice but it works once per encounter. The other ability however is based on the number of phrases you have and if you're using offensive evocations often your bonus will be very small. To generate phrases through criticals there are 3 weapons I would consider: Rannig's Wrath (highest accuracy), Min's Fortune (chance to crit is increasing with every hit) and Sun and Moon (hits twice).

 

PS. I know you said you want to play single class chanter, but maybe you should also consider a chanter/monk for their great synergy (the monk adds 10int, fire lash to your offensive invocations and has a chance to hit twice with melee attacks) which helps the skald more than another 2 PL as a chanter. The monk can equip also a small shield which uses his fists accuracy for hits giving you the chance to generate more phrases on top of higher defenses.

Thanks, man. I really don't want to Multiclass but it isn't off the table by the time I start the playthrough.

[Kaylon]

You obviously never casted an empowered Eld Nary with lots of general PL bonus, +1 PEN and +10 ACC once every encounter - without the need for resting.

 

My pick would be a single class Troubadour by the way - but I guess the Skald is set.

Yes, in this case it's not good as a main weapon (unless you like gimped characters ), but nothing prevents you from being smart and keeping it in your 2nd slot to use it at the start of each fight - that's what I do. 

Edited September 21, 2018 by Kaylon

[Boeroer]

For example.

 

Or you just stick to it because you're not playing PotD and don't need to micro everything into the ground. The sabre is good enough as is and it has some nice mechanics for chanters who like to cast some empowered invocation, get 3 phrases and then stack some more phrases for the shocking lash + attack speed. Can't see a lot of gimpage here for a non PotD run.

[XEternalXDreamsX]

Shout out to Boeroer, Kaylon, Haplok, Metaturtle for bringing our topic to front page on Google search for anyone looking into this weapon and combinations therein. Thanks, y'all! Hopefully this conversation will be of use for current and future PoE Deadfire players.

Edited September 24, 2018 by XEternalXDreamsX

[Lampros]

 

Hi, the enchantments are:

 

Finale (already has) --> Encore: after empowering an Invocation get max phrase points

 

Finale (aleady has) --> Refreshing Finale: after empowering an invocation you get back 3 phrases AND the empower point.

 

Prelude (already has) --> Companion's Prelude: 5m-aura that gives you and your allies +2% stacking attack speed bonus per held phrase point

 

Prelude (already has) --> Shocking Prelude: give yourself (not allies) 2% attack speed per phrase point held and +2% shocking lash per phrase point held.

 

For a single Skald I would recommend Refreshing Finale. This turns Empower into a 1/encounter ability basically AND gives you back 3 phrases. And a single chanter can get Eld Nary - which is supergood when empowered. You can mix that with the high level passives which grant +PEN, +ACC when using empower. It's pretty sweet.

 

For the upgrade of Prelude it depends... as a Skald who wants to attack in melee I would pick Shocking Prelude most of the time I guess. Lashes are strong.

 

You coul dual wield Sasha's with Scordeo's Edge whith Blade Cascade and Adaptive which are quite nice enchantments for a Skald. Another nice alternative could be Grave Calling with Chilling Grave: if you kill your own skeletons (summons) with it you will automatically cast an enemy-only Chillfog which profits from the weapon's enchantments. And Grave Bound works a bit like Shocking Prelude (stacking 2% freezing lash on hit 10 times - then paralyze on every crit).

 

Both nice. I would have to test a lot to say which one I'd like better as buddy of Sasha's.

 

Of course you can pair Sasha's with other weapon types, too. I just think that two sabres look best...

Thanks, bro. I appreciate everything. I'm going to try all of what you recommended. You are a Pillar of this community.

 

 

I can agree with that!

 

The operative question for me is: Is the held invocation speed buff really strong enough to forgo using invocations at all? You are giving up a lot.

[Myrtillo]

 

I can agree with that!

 

The operative question for me is: Is the held invocation speed buff really strong enough to forgo using invocations at all? You are giving up a lot.

 

 

From my experience, not really.

12% passive action speed buff party wide is a solid buff, but once you are topped you loose all the phrases generated after that, it's a terrible waste of ressources.

What I like to do (I use Konstanten as a 1 handed Sasha's (no offhand) pure Skald, kind of what OP was initially planning) is to use an empowered 7 phrases summon (either Dragon or tier 2 instruments of death) that instantly refunds the 7 phrases (Sasha's passive), then cast Eld Nary. Then I let the phrases get back to 7 from chanting/crits, and as soon as it is topped I use a 2 phrases offensive cc invocation (Thunder Rolled, Killers Froze stiff or The Lover cried depending on ennemies defense/affliction resistance) or Hel-Hyraf if I need pen.

I drop to 5 phrases, which very quickly regenerate to 7 (one chant+1 crit happens often in a matter of seconds) > repeat.

 

This way you always give at least +10% passive action speed to the party, while providing a lot of hard CC able to target either will or reflexes.

And no matter what you always have 5 phrases ready if you need an urgent Two Fingers of Daylight, or have the opportunity for an execute with Boil their Flesh (and sip from the marrow!).

 

I had a lot of fun with this build

Edited October 2, 2018 by Myrtillo

[Lampros]

 

 

I can agree with that!

 

The operative question for me is: Is the held invocation speed buff really strong enough to forgo using invocations at all? You are giving up a lot.

 

 

From my experience, not really.

12% passive action speed buff party wide is a solid buff, but once you are topped you loose all the phrases generated after that, it's a terrible waste of ressources.

What I like to do (I use Konstanten as a 1 handed Sasha's (no offhand) pure Skald, kind of what OP was initially planning) is to use an empowered 7 phrases summon (either Dragon or tier 2 instruments of death) that instantly refunds the 7 phrases (Sasha's passive), then cast Eld Nary. Then I let the phrases get back to 7 from chanting/crits, and as soon as it is topped I use a 2 phrases offensive cc invocation (Thunder Rolled, Killers Froze stiff or The Lover cried depending on ennemies defense/affliction resistance) or Hel-Hyraf if I need pen.

I drop to 5 phrases, which very quickly regenerate to 7 (one chant+1 crit happens often in a matter of seconds) > repeat.

 

This way you always give at least +10% passive action speed to the party, while providing a lot of hard CC able to target either will or reflexes.

And no matter what you always have 5 phrases ready if you need an urgent Two Fingers of Daylight, or have the opportunity for an execute with Boil their Flesh (and sip from the marrow!).

 

I had a lot of fun with this build

 

 

That's a lot of micro-management!

 

I auto-script every fight except boss fights or emergencies, so I was thinking of either 1) not scripting any invocations and just using Chanter for phrases or 2) just script 1 really high requirement invocation so that the Chanter keeps his speed buff for most of the fight

[Myrtillo]

 

That's a lot of micro-management!

 

I auto-script every fight except boss fights or emergencies, so I was thinking of either 1) not scripting any invocations and just using Chanter for phrases or 2) just script 1 really high requirement invocation so that the Chanter keeps his speed buff for most of the fight

 

 

Actually most of it can be auto-scripted easily. Something like that:

- Always true: Eld Nary - 120 sec cooldown - ennemy - Lowest fortitude

- Target is Near death - And Sip From the Marrow - ennemy - Lowest health

- Phrases >6: At the sound of his voice - Greatest number of ennemies

 

 

You would only have to micromanage if ennemies resist dex afflictions or if their will is too high (to cast Thunder Rolled instead of At the sound of his voice)).

Edited October 2, 2018 by Myrtillo