Building a Witch (zerker/soul blade)

[dirkdigglr]

Just looking for advice on building a melee witch. The abilities/passives seem pretty straight forward but I'm having trouble finalizing my starting attributes. I'm planning on maxing per, dumping res, and leaving con at 10 but i keep going back and forth on how i want to distribute the remaining points between mig/dex/int which all seem useful to the build. I'm kinda thinking something like 15/10/15/18/15/4. Thoughts?

 

Also, thoughts on 2h vs dual wield? From what I understand dual wield is generally better because of full attacks. Is 2h stronger on a build that spends more time auto attacking vs full attacks? With barbaric blow costing 2 rage but refunding rage on kill is it spammable enough to give dual wield a big advantage?

[Marigoldran]

The more important question is: but how do you stay alive? 

[dirkdigglr]

The more important question is: but how do you stay alive? 

 

I was planning on using Eder/Pallegina on the front line. Wearing medium/heavy armor and using borrowed instinct later in the game. Too squishy?

Edited January 9, 2019 by dirkdigglr

[Boeroer]

Soul Blade regenerates focus with Soul Annihilation when you use Whispers of the Endless Paths! It also applies raw damage to all the AoE hits.

So my recommendation is to max INT and use the Whispers mainly.
If you pick up Savage Defiance and do not try to tank you will be fine with the self damage.

Devil of Caroc's Breastplate is kind of mandatory when not using Modwyr - and then use Helm of the Falcon because a) it's great with two Handers and b) it fits beautifully to the breastplate.

Berserker/Soulblade with WotEP goes through the roof once you have Blood Thirst...

Edited January 9, 2019 by Boeroer

[MaxQuest]

I second the WotEP and max INT suggestion. So the spread can be: 15/8/15/18/18/4 (if human) or 18/8/17/20/21/6 (if human with berath's blessings).

As for survivability: heavy armor (ideally Crimson Panoply, but others will do too) + 2AR from berskerker's frenzy + defiance + (optionally) leap (for -4 PEN from Dazed).

Plus Abraham pet on MC, and Nalvi on Eder to offset the armor penalty.

 

P.S. Alternatively, you can use medium armor (if it turns out that you don't have problems with survivability). It could be the already mention DoC breastplate in the mid game; and Contender's Armor in the late game (if you rise athletics).

Edited January 9, 2019 by MaxQuest

[Boeroer]

Hm... if not using DoC's Breastplate but Whispers otEP: how to deal with confusion? It will shrink your cone, it will shorten your Savage Defiance, Bloodlust 'n stuff, it will make you hit your peeps...

 

Using consumables in every encounter is kind of meh - and switching to Modwyr when casting Frenzy works but is tedious.

 

That's why DoC's is kind of mandatory on a Berseker for me (if not Berserker/Nalpasca, Berserker/Paladin or Berserker with Modwyr).

Edited January 9, 2019 by Boeroer

[MaxQuest]

^ It depends on how often resting is needed.

 

In my first playthrough, MC was under effect of Captain's Banquet for most of the time.

(you start with a few from Scavenging Hunt, and later just buy rum, lobsters and craft it)

 

In my second run though, I had to use other food\, because Captain's Banquet was interfering with my streetfighter triggering self-flanked via blunderbuss modal.

Edited January 9, 2019 by MaxQuest

[dirkdigglr]

How early can I acquire the materials to upgrade DoC? My plan was to dual wield for modwyr then respec to 2h after upgrading DoC. I was under the impression that modwyr could be upgraded fairly quickly but it might take a while to acquire all the materials for DoC. Is that accurate? I definitely want to to deal with confusion quickly using modwyr/DoC rather than consumables.

[Boeroer]

If you know where to get the ingredients you can upgrade it early:

 

https://pillarsofeternity.gamepedia.com/Devil_of_Caroc_Breastplate

 

Check under Upgrades: Mechanical Mind. If you click on the ingredients they will tell you where to aquire them. No need to fight if you don't want to. Everything from the list can be bought.

 

Not to forget that the Breastplate also gives you +2 Rage, +10% attack speed and either +2 AR when bloodied or regeneration on crit. The last one can be pretty decent for a Berserker + Whispers since it counters the self damage. If you took Blooded as passive and plan to become bloddied often then +2 AR is also good.

Edited January 9, 2019 by Boeroer

[Marigoldran]

 

The more important question is: but how do you stay alive? 

 

I was planning on using Eder/Pallegina on the front line. Wearing medium/heavy armor and using borrowed instinct later in the game. Too squishy?

 

He'll consume most of the parties' healing resources, which is a problem for the longer DLC fights.  

[dirkdigglr]

 

 

The more important question is: but how do you stay alive? 

 

I was planning on using Eder/Pallegina on the front line. Wearing medium/heavy armor and using borrowed instinct later in the game. Too squishy?

 

He'll consume most of the parties' healing resources, which is a problem for the longer DLC fights.  

 

 

Would it be a good idea to put some points in Con and wear heavy armor? Or do you think the class combo in general will just issues staying alive?

[Ensign]

It's not really possible to solve your deflection issues on a melee Witch. Best is to just accept it, dump resolve, and stack armor to try and make the hits and crits manageable.

 

Devil of Caroc breastplate is ideal in general. It's a great armor and the INT affliction resistance deals with the confusion and allows you to function. You can use food as well, but it is expensive to do so and until you have the game nailed down I would hesitate to commit to it as plan A.

 

Two handers are definitely ideal. Dual wielding is only really sexy on Rogues now, with a few additional interactions making it nice (Kind Wayfarer). Witch doesn't have much of that (just Interrupting Blows really), so I would eagerly use a two hander.

 

Be prepared to pay close attention to the micro of the character. It can dish out pretty impressive damage, but it does need careful timing and positioning on top of the usual class babysitting. A longer range support would be advised.

[dirkdigglr]

Soul Blade regenerates focus with Soul Annihilation when you use Whispers of the Endless Paths! It also applies raw damage to all the AoE hits.

 

So my recommendation is to max INT and use the Whispers mainly.

If you pick up Savage Defiance and do not try to tank you will be fine with the self damage.

 

Devil of Caroc's Breastplate is kind of mandatory when not using Modwyr - and then use Helm of the Falcon because a) it's great with two Handers and b) it fits beautifully to the breastplate.

 

Berserker/Soulblade with WotEP goes through the roof once you have Blood Thirst...

 

Boeroer, what are your thoughts on WotEP Witch vs Citzal Spirit Lance Warlock for an AOE melee character? The more I think about it the more I think the Warlock does it better. With the Warlock I get easy access to deflection buffs and I wouldn't be dependent on DoC/Modwyr to remove confusion.

 

Thanks for all your help btw.

Edited January 12, 2019 by dirkdigglr