[Class Build] "Chiron", Tactical Archer

[Kilrach]

Greetings everyone!

 

I'm creating a build for my first playthrough, but I do need help optimizing it. I hope with your help, we could make this build to be the best version it could be. Here's a short description of the character:

 

 

Tactical Archer

It's his job to keep everyone alive, and he does so efficiently as he moves quickly around the battlefield to anyone in need, triggering White Flames easily as an archer. Because he can heal, the priests and druids of the party can focus on casting other important spells.

 

When healing isn't required, he stuns enemies to keep them incapacitated. And he does all these while dealing great damage at the same time, making him a well-rounded member of the crew.

 

Chiron

Chiron is a centaur who is a notable figure in Greek mythology. I gave this build the nickname because similar to the centaur, he's an archer who heals. And ironically, the monk class in this game literally have wounds, making him a "Wounded Healer" - an alias of Chiron himself.

 

 

 

Character Creation

 

Race: Wood Elf

Subclass(es): Kind Wayfarers / Helwalker (Pure DPS Variant: Bleak Walkers / Helwalker)

 

-Stats-

Might: 18

Con: 3

Dex: 19

Per: 19

Int: 15

Res: 3

 

Background: The White that Wends

Job: Explorer

 

 

 

Skills

 

A bit Survival, then Diplomacy/Insight

A bit of Athletics, then either max Arcana or Alchemy

 

 

 

Abilities

 

Level 1
Swift Strikes, Sworn Enemy

Level 2
Lay on Hands

Level 3
Fast Runner

Level 4
Dance of Death, Two-Handed Style

Level 5
Mortification of the Soul

Level 6
Clarity of Agony

Level 7
Lightning Strikes, Sworn Rival

Level 8
Eternal Devotion

Level 9
Stunning Blow

Level 10
Thunderous Blows, Scion of Flame

Level 11
Duality of Mortal Presence

Level 12
Enduring Dance

Level 13
Stunning Surge, Uncanny Luck

Level 14
Practiced Healer

Level 15
Deep Faith

Level 16
Crucible of Suffering, Virtuous Triumph

Level 17
Improved Critical

Level 18 - 20
Divine Purpose, Long Stride, Inspiring Triumph, Hands of Light/Greater LoH?
 

 

Weapons

 

Single-Target: Veilpiercer

AOE: Frostseeker

RP: Saint Omaku's Mercy

 

 

 

Playstyle

 

Open up with Enduring Dance followed by Mortification, making sure Turning Wheel is active. Buff with Lightning Strikes and Thundering Blows after. Apply Sworn Enemy on first target and use Eternal Devotion as a first shot for the 10% burn damage lash.

 

Total damage bonus from self-buffs: +15 Might (Helwalker + Thundering Blows), +20% (Sworn Rival), +10% (Eternal Devotion), +15% (Lightning Strikes)

 

 

 

As you can see, I still don't know which abilities I should get for the last three levels. Not sure about the skills either.

Suggestions and comments are appreciated! I'll update this build as we go along.

 

Thanks (:

Edited October 18, 2018 by Kilrach

[Haplok]

Two handed weapons are not great for White Flames. The ability is a Full Attack triggered by each hit, so duals would provide 2x more healing. Consider dual pistols maybe? And dual mortars for aoe Stunning Surge.

[Kilrach]

Good point. However, the main role of this build is a striker. I was hoping the faster recovery/crit reset of the war bows would be more than enough to quicky use the next Flames if needed. The only drawback is that it requires another charge of Flames. If burst heal is needed though, there is always Lay on Hands.

 

The main drawback of firearms are the blunted criticals and lower penetration.

Edited October 16, 2018 by Kilrach

[Haplok]

Well, warbows don't have a faster Recovery then pistol reload.. particularly dual pistols or pistols with modal. Then you could have a Chanter for Ila's chant to increase the pistol's speed advantage even further. Plus Acina's Tricorn reload speed bonus.

 

And if you want to provide effective support, firearms in general are hard to beat. With a bow you have to wait for the recovery after shooting. With firearms you can skip reload anytime, immediately cast Lay on Hands or some such and resume reloading/shooting.

 

 

Nice Con score btw. You sure that is a good idea with a Helwalker?

Edited October 16, 2018 by Haplok

[Kilrach]

Well, the idea is not to get hit in the first place. I'm ranged, not melee.

Like I said, striker's my main role, and it seems like a whole lot of damage sacrificed just to just get one more heal proc - it just doesn't seem like a worthy trade-off.

 

Besides, if played correctly sustain heals are enough. Also, I might possibly be over-healing with double procs so I might as well balance that out wiith more damage.

Edited October 16, 2018 by Kilrach

[Hulk'O'Saurus]

Heavy Crossbow modal is very good in party.

 

Since you're considering Arcana you can make use of... what was it called... Spearcaster? That one sold in Periki's Overlook. 

 

Two party memebers with that modal can keep bosses on their back all the time. 

[Haplok]

Well, the idea is not to get hit in the first place. I'm ranged, not melee.

Like I said, striker's my main role, and it seems like a whole lot of damage sacrificed just to just get one more heal proc - it just doesn't seem like a worthy trade-off.

 

Besides, if played correctly sustain heals are enough. Also, I might possibly be over-healing with double procs so I might as well balance that out wiith more damage.

 

Why do you mention sacrificed damage? Do you believe dual pistols/blunderbusses to be a lower damage option?

[Lampros]

How is the DPS with Paladin/Monk character? As ranged, don't you need either Rogue or Ranger to do meaningful DPS?
 

Also, I am not a fan of pistols after trying it out. Too many pierce-resists or immunes. It seems clearly the worst damage type.

[Kilrach]

 

Well, the idea is not to get hit in the first place. I'm ranged, not melee.

Like I said, striker's my main role, and it seems like a whole lot of damage sacrificed just to just get one more heal proc - it just doesn't seem like a worthy trade-off.

 

Besides, if played correctly sustain heals are enough. Also, I might possibly be over-healing with double procs so I might as well balance that out wiith more damage.

 

Why do you mention sacrificed damage? Do you believe dual pistols/blunderbusses to be a lower damage option?

 

 

Okay I stand corrected. I tested with the best pistols (Scordeo's Trophy & Thundercrack Pistol) and the damage output is better than the Frostseeker. Xefa's and Kitchen Stove were comparable as well but the minor drawback is the shorter range.

 

That being said, pierce-resists or immunes could be troublesome like Lampros pointed out.

Edited October 17, 2018 by Kilrach

[Kilrach]

How is the DPS with Paladin/Monk character? As ranged, don't you need either Rogue or Ranger to do meaningful DPS?

 

Also, I am not a fan of pistols after trying it out. Too many pierce-resists or immunes. It seems clearly the worst damage type.

 

As it stands my build deal roughly the same damage as compared to a Rogue/Monk I created for testing. Apparenly the lash damage is calculated in a different way. Not sure whether it will be "fixed" but here's the discussion thread: https://forums.obsidian.net/topic/100436-lash-damage-is-still-not-calculated-correctly/

 

The DPS variant (Bleak Walkers / Helwalker) would probably out-dps the Rogue/Monk.

[Kilrach]

Just tested with Aamiina's Legacy and it out-performs dual pistols by a long shot. Looks like he stays an archer (:

[Boeroer]

Lash damage is multiplicative, other dmg bonuses like Sneak Attack are additive. This will most likely not get altered because it has been the way those bonuses work since PoE1. Still a Rogue/Helwalker should deal more dmg than a Kind Wayfarer/Helwalker - but of course he wouldn't have those nice support abilites.

 

Reloading weapons + support abilites like healing are such an advantage over recovery weapons. I can't count how many times my healer finished his spell a second too late because his recovery was in the way.

 

Dual pistol + White Flames is hard to beat as well. Especially since you get a ton of pistols in the early to mid game. Dual Mortars are crazy good on a monk with Duality:INT and Stunning Surge (also obtainable very early). And there's something else: try out Flagellath's Path + dual mortars. Since you want to move around to heal party members Flagellant's Patch my be interesting anyways. It will trigger a Full Attack with mortars at the target and you can spam it because it doesn't trigger reload. It's pretty crazy dps. Also Cutthroat Cosmo is your best buddy.

 

Bows and such as backup weapon once you face pierce immune enemies is an option. Later on I would recommend the Long Pain because it's just very good (very high ACC scaling) and a nice backup for pierce resistant enemies.

 

Aamiina's Legacy is one of the best ranged dps weapons when it comes to auto-attacks, but it's neither the best pick for FoD nor Stunning Blows since its base damage is rather low and thus you spend a lot more Zeal or Mortification per point of damage. But of course flavour is an important part. If you like to be an archer then go for it.

 

Also consider Ring of Focused Flames (steal or buy from Fassina). It will give your FoD attacks +10 ACC. For example: if you use the hunting bow's modal (-15 ACC for -50% recovery) with FoD you will end up with the same ACC as a warbow would have (without the ring) but with a lot higher attack speed.

 

Since you will invest more zeal/mortification with a bow I would recommend Devil of Caroc's Breastplate for the nice +2 Zeal/+2 Mortification and Mortification Bindings for another +2 Mortification. That way you can do a lot more of those Stunning Blows, Lightning Strikes and FoDs.

Edited October 18, 2018 by Boeroer

[Kilrach]

Thanks Boeroer for the detailed reply! I'd be sure to include your suggestions as I start my playthrough.

 

You're right, after doing more testing, the Rogue definitely dealt  more damage than my KW (sadly lol).

 

The reason why I like Aamiina's is exactly the reason you pointed out. Having Rapid Shot active should outperform dual pistols from an auto-attacking perspective - I assume that I wouldn't be able to spam FoD every battle because of the nerf for Virtuous Triumph. Plus it's super short recovery ensures I get off emergency heals easily.

 

That being said, you're right that the Long Pain is absolutely powerful, possibly even more than weapons (Turning Wheel, Heartbeat Drumming & Enervating Blows would take effect since it's considered melee). Not to mention, it has amazing recovery time and I'd still be able to use Two Weapon Style and maybe One-Handed Style? Tbh, I could use TLP as a main damage source when I get it to replace pistols.

 

I'd reckon Instruments of Pain would even be more powerful but that'd just be breaking too much flavour lol.

Edited October 18, 2018 by Kilrach

[Boeroer]

Sadly Long Pain does not work like in PoE where it was a "ranged melee" weapon. In Deadfire it works like a pure ranged weapon which means no melee abilities (but pure ranged ones like Driving Flight would work). If to you want "ranged melee" you would indeed need to go for Instruments of Pain (IoP). This just adds more reach to your melee weapons. If you have a reach weapon like a pike you will have a reach of nearly 11 meters with IoP. For normal melee weapon you'll only get something about 5 meters or so.

Edited October 18, 2018 by Boeroer

[Kilrach]

That's weird, I just tested it and Turning Wheel & Enervating Blows were applied to TLP. What's more, even though TLP auto-attacks one hit at a time, using FoD/Stunning Surge makes it attacks twice like dual-wielding

 

So basically spamming Stunning Surge would ensure double-hits every time (since the cost is refunded).

Edited October 18, 2018 by Kilrach

[Boeroer]

But TLP is dual (ranged) fists. That's why it does a full attack with both hands.

 

Interesting that it works with Enervating Blows. Maybe that ability works with ranged weapons despite its description or TLP is an exception or it's mechanics got changed. Last time I tested TLP (not too long ago) it didn't work with any melee ability (Swift Flurry crit procs, Heartbeat Drumming, Force of Anguish and so on).

[Boeroer]

Hm, just checked TLP with Enervating Blows in game: doesn't work for me. Everything seems to be as I said (I mean about TLP).

 

Turning Wheel isn't melee only (despite its description). It works with everything (even spell-like abilites) and I guess that won't get changed.

Edited October 18, 2018 by Boeroer

[Kilrach]

Okay I know what's going on. TLP works as intended like you said.

 

However, my test build had the Instruments of Pain upgrade and when I use fists with it, the game thinks it's "melee" and Enervating Blows is applied. My attack speed also becomes faster. The only drawback is that you don't get the cool animation from TLP lol.

 

In other words, the Instruments of Pain upgrade is like a passive action speed buff and being recognized as melee

[Boeroer]

Ah, yes. Instruments of Pain is one of the coolest abilites in my opinion.

 

Don't know why your attack speed should be faster with it, but the whole "turn melee into ranged" is nice.

[Kilrach]

Since it's considered dual-wielding, I'm guessing that Two Weapon Style is being applied (:

 

I'm guessing TLP/IoP would out-perform any weapon when I get it those abiliities then.

 

Also, I wonder the FoD heals would proc wiith Heartbeat procs as well lol

Edited October 19, 2018 by Kilrach

[Boeroer]

Ah - you mean compared to a bow or other two handers? Yes, TLP is a dual weapon setup.

 

If you have normal fists and then summon TLP nothing about your speed should change.

 

As far as I know White Flames only procs one per swing and doesn't work with any additional hit rolls (AoE from mortars or rods, additional attacks from Heartbeat Drumming). Also Swift Flurry and Heartbeat Drumming only work with melee weapons. So: Instruments of Pain is the only way to trigger them while attacking from range.