Chanter Solo "The Ultimate"

[l_orion_l]

I'm trying to accomplish "The Ultimate" achievement and I feel like I am off to a great start and I thought I would share.

My plan is to use Reny Daret's Ghost and scrolls until level 9 and re-spec for Dragon Trashed.

Chanter
Moon-Godlike - For crazy passive healing with high might and healing bonuses
Colonist - For getting to 14 in survival for healing bonus

Living Lands - for +1 Might for the re-spec stats

 

Skill Plan(Base/Total):

Stealth:       1/5 - +2 Night Runner, +1 Dengeon Delver, +1 Blooded Hunter

Athletics:     3/5 - +2 Cloak of Many Feathers

Lore:            6/6 

Mechanics: 8/11 - +2 Gloves of Manipulation, +1 Dungeon Delver (Also resting bonus to get 13 temporarily)

Survival:   11/14 - +2 Sanguine Plate, +1 Rymrgand's Boon

 

Abilites:
2: Weapon and Shield Style
4: Ancient Memory
6: Cautious Attack
8: Gallant's Focus
10: Wound Binding
12: Veteran's Recovery
14: Beloved Spirts
16: Superior Deflection

Starting Stats / Total after gear ( Level 1-8 ):

Mig: 11/14 - Not to much of a difference maker early with healing abilities not in use yet and most of the damage coming from phantom.
Con: 14/18 - This plus Wispers of Yenwood and Fulvano's Boots gives you 17 early.  For tough fights Pearlwood chicken gives you 19.  This compensates for low endurance and health early.
Dex: 4/7 - Absolutely not necessary for chanters.  Low action time is not as important when you are really tanky and can outlast enemies.  Groups of enemies.
Per: 16/17 - Accuracy is king on PotD.  It wouldn't matter so much but some hard fights need scrolls and scrolls need accuracy to hit.  It is also nice to have slow but damaging attacks to help the phantom kill things.
Int: 15/17 - More aoe and duration times for scroll use.
Res: 18/19 - For max deflection early to help with tanking.  This combined with a potion of wizard double helps keep enemies only grazing you for tough fights.

 

Gear Levels 1-4:

Weapons:  Hatchet or Whispers of Yenwood (if you want to sneak and get it early) / Large Shield

Neck:  Cloak of minor protection / Rymrgand's Mantle when needed

Armor: Plate

Hands:  Fulvano's Gloves / Gloves of Manipulation when needed

Ring 1: Ring of the Overseer

Ring 2: Ring of Minor Deflection

Belt:  Blunting Belt - This plus plate and "Dull the Edge, Blunt the Point" chant are huge for tanking

Boots: Fulvano's Boots

 

Gear Levels 4-8:

Weapons:  Whispers of Yenwood / Fine Large Shield - I value the 2 Con plus 4 fortitude more than +5 deflection of a hatchet.  Also you get dual damage type of the sword which helps.

Neck:  Fulvano's Amulet - Bonus to healing helps a lot with Moon-Godlike, Shod-in-Faith, and talents.

Armor: Exceptional Plate (+1 Per)

Hands:  Bracers of Enduring / Gloves of Manipulation when needed

Ring 1: Ring of Deflection

Ring 2: Ring of Protection

Belt:  Belt of the Royal Deadfire - Awesome belt for stats, a per rest ability, and a on crit ability. 

Boots: Shod-in-Faith - Awesome for the reason you don't have all of your healing talents yet.

 

Level 9 Re-spec!! (In Progress)

 

End Stats / Total after gear:
Mig:  19/22 - for max dragon trashed damage & healing
Con: 10/14 - lower con is not ideal but is compensated with gear and all the healing we will have

Dex: 4/7 - still not necessary and can be used to dump
Per:  16/18 - for added accuracy for dragon trashed as well as any scrolls or invocations you use
Int:    19/21 - for maximum aoe and linger times
Res:  10/11 - more healing and abilities to compensate for this
 

Gear Levels 8-12:

Weapons:  Whispers of Yenwood / Exceptional Small Shield - Switched to a small shield for the added accuracy

Loadout 2:  Hatchet / Ilfan Byrngar's Solace  - Switch when stunned/proned

Neck:  Voice of the Mountaintop - More range for dragon thrashed

Armor: Maneha's Armor (+2 Per) - Takes over as the healing bonus item.  

Hands:  Bracers of Enduring

Ring 1: Ring of Deflection

Ring 2: Ring of Protection

Belt:  Belt of the Royal Deadfire - Same as above

Boots: Shod-in-Faith / Fenwalker / Boots of Speed - All depends on the fight and what I need more of.  Mostly Shod-in-Faith

 

Edit:  Act 1 down.  Even killed the caravan with no problem!  All quests except Raedric's Hold complete, although I did kill a lot of kith there to get come coin and picked up Gloves of manipulation while I was there.  Almost level 6 and in Defiance Bay now.  Everything was pretty easy with no danger of dying.  I will keep updating based on things I've learned.  Maybe at the end I will do a full build.  

 

Edit 2:  Act 2 down (all except last quest).  No real issues in act 2.  I was tanky enough to outlast all fights I encountered.  The belt of the royal deadfire really makes some fights really easy with that fire cast.  Shod-in-Faith + Moon-Godlike + Ancient Memory + Healing bonus is a good combo early to mid levels.  I am almost level 10 now and having dragon trashed is great.  Some fights you can just run around while DT kills everything.  Other fights just keep in a corner while you only get hit by 1 or 2 melee.  You definitely feel the lower deflection from lower Res and switching to a smaller shield.  Most fights are over so much faster though.  Keep some Potions of Vital Essence to keep your health up.  Your endurance is not really a problem with all the healing.  I will keep everyone posted as I go!  I hope this helps someone.  It is slow moving however and I'm sorry for that.

Edited February 4, 2019 by l_orion_l

[Jaheiras Witness]

What do you mean by the Ultimate? Solo or with party? Are you not going to reload at all or are you gaming it?

 

Makes a difference to your choices. For example coastal aumaua is better choice if not reloading; moon godlike better with party. If solo you want Mechanics, not Survival.

 

If you are going to respec stats, then go all the way and dump PER completely before level 9. I would keep INT maxed at all times, you don’t need max RES before level 9 and after level 9 you can reduce RES to around 6-7.

 

Your talent choices depend on what kind of game. Ancient memory / Beloved Spirits is bad choice solo, but ok with party. Wound Binding is total waste when Vital Essence potions will do the job. You might want more defensive talents such as Bear’s Fortitude, especially if true no-reload.

[l_orion_l]

What do you mean by the Ultimate? Solo or with party? Are you not going to reload at all or are you gaming it?

 

It's listed in the title as solo, and I'm trying to get the "ultimate" achievement. By reloading I will save when I run out of time playing and just reload where I left off.

 

Makes a difference to your choices. For example coastal aumaua is better choice if not reloading; moon godlike better with party. If solo you want Mechanics, not Survival.

You only need 13 to unlock all locks in the game without scaling (11 needed to unlock it with picks). So with the Gloves of Manipulation, Resting bonus, Dungeon Delver - you will only need 6 Mechanics. This adds up to around 15 of your 90 skill points with the chanters bonus. The whole point of survival was to push as much healing as possible to be sturdy which also synergizes with Moon-Godlike and Chanter talents.

 

If you are going to respec stats, then go all the way and dump PER completely before level 9. I would keep INT maxed at all times, you don’t need max RES before level 9 and after level 9 you can reduce RES to around 6-7.

You're right about PER. You can drop it completely. Why max INT at all times? It just adds some time with phantom at that point right? Max Res has helped so far. That extra 8 deflection early makes a difference I think. I could be wrong on this.

Your talent choices depend on what kind of game. Ancient memory / Beloved Spirits is bad choice solo, but ok with party. Wound Binding is total waste when Vital Essence potions will do the job. You might want more defensive talents such as Bear’s Fortitude, especially if true no-reload.

Again I was trying to push max healing for this build which I thought was good for solo play as well as party play. I'm fairly new to this game so I am by no means an expert on this. Wouldn't wound binding heal you a great amount >100 percent health in battle with survival bonus plus belt of bountiful healing? This seems like it would be big giving all your healing to keep your endurance basically up all the time with all the healing talents.

 

Thanks a lot for your reply! It means a lot considering this an older game now and the forum isn't as active with Pillars 2 out now.

Edited January 15, 2019 by l_orion_l

[Jaheiras Witness]

You should not need that much healing on a solo character. Or rather if you do, the build is doomed to failure anyway because you are taking too much damage in the first place and need better avoidance/less repair.

 

Damage is rarely what gets you killed in solo: being rendered helpless (prone/paralyse/stun/petrify) is usually the killer. You have a lot of healing but what’s your plan agsinst phantoms/adragans et al? All the healing in the world won’t help you if you are helpless.

 

Also healing is easily substituted with potions, so it is a waste of talents to use them on healing when you could pick things that are less easily substituted.

 

Hope that gives you things to think about.

 

INT is great because it increases durations and AoE. Your phantom time is not affected by INT at all, it’s a fixed 12 seconds. But your Veteran’s Recovery will last longer, the buffs you use will last longer (e.g. Mirrored Image potions, scrolls of defence and protection), and if you use offensive scrolls they are also improved. And by dumping both DEX and PER you have the points. You could go something like 19/18/3/3/19/16 pre level 9 and then 19/10/3/18/19/9 post level 9.

[l_orion_l]

You should not need that much healing on a solo character. Or rather if you do, the build is doomed to failure anyway because you are taking too much damage in the first place and need better avoidance/less repair. 

 

The healing is more of an addition to the sturdiness.  I certainly still get hit on PotD even with all the deflection bonuses and large shield.  Are you suggesting that you don't get hit?  I feel I can take bigger fights with this setup, at least early.

 

Damage is rarely what gets you killed in solo: being rendered helpless (prone/paralyse/stun/petrify) is usually the killer. You have a lot of healing but what’s your plan agsinst phantoms/adragans et al? All the healing in the world won’t help you if you are helpless.

 

I mean early the high fortitude from max str and max con help big time for this.  As well as potions of Wizard Double to help not get hit or maybe just grazed.  And yes Coastal Aumaua would help with the defenses but I think once you get a preservation item/s this race for a Chanter seems bad.  You kind want to be stunned/proned right?  +100 defenses and dragon trashed still kills people.  The other disables would probably need some prayer against scrolls for I assume?  Coastal would still need protection on that.

 

I totally agree about INT..  Didn't think of all the effects of potions and scrolls and talents that i had chosen.

 

Maybe i'm flying off the deep end here or just my lack of understanding of this game is getting the best of me...  Either way I appreciate your input and love this game and the discussion of it! 

[Jaheiras Witness]

Even on PotD, you are going to get hit but the amount of damage you are doing should not be so great. In all honesty Veteran’s Recovery + high MIG is enough regen to heal the scratches you take, and you then use potions to heal up the bigger wounds.

 

Getting stunned, paralysed or petrified is a terrible idea, and no you do not want these even with stacked preservation. For starters you stop chanting, so no more dragon thrashed. Only prone is not so bad (with preservation), though it’s still not good not to be able to perform any actions.

 

Also don’t forget that paralyse gets you -40 DEF, so the +50 preservation is really +10 net. Stacked preservation (+100 = +60) still makes a big difference, but again only for prone, not stun or worse.

 

There’s no substitute for experience, so you may as well play and see what works or doesn’t.

[Boeroer]

You will get hit with a chanter as he can't stack as much defenses as other classes can. So it's totally fine.

 

My chanter build that relies on self healing and only had okish defenses (Chillfog build, see the build list) could solo most encounters easily just by outhealing the enemies and release an invocation from time to time while chucking a potion of vital essence if he must. Key here was that healing bonuses like that from "Mercy and Kindness" also apply to potions of infused with Vital Essence and also to Wound Binding, giving you back a lot (if no all) your health (not speaking about endurance here). Combined with good defenses you will be fine. Veteran's Recovery, paired with Ancient Memory and Ancient Spirits is actually not bad. Especially when combined with Mercy and Kindness.

 

Veteran's Recovery with high MIG might not be enough in long fights because Vet Recovery has a fixed duration and it's not that long. Potion consumption is often interrupted by buggy behavior.

 

However, it is indeed crucial to not get hard-cc'd for a long time. Adragans with their long lasting petrity and Lagufaeth with Blowdarts can be really dangerous for a solo guy because even a graze can mean death. Luckily there are items (Fenwalkers, Aila Braccia and so on) that help. Do not only look for increased defenses but also at reduced afflicton duration (Fenwalkers, potion of recovery, Blaidh Golan). Those can really save the day.

 

A trick for Chanters: in encounters where you get proned or stunned (Ogres for example): wear Blaidh Golan and Little Savior: the enhantments stack and leave you with +100 to all defenses while you are cc'd. Dragon Thrashed will continue to work when prone.

 

If you dump a summon and then cast Withdraw on yourself (Black Sanctuary Shield) you can make yourself immune to any damage and attacks while Dragon Thrashed still works. If you switch to a one-handed weapon the chant will even get +12 ACC.

 

It's a good "oh sh!it" button.

Edited January 15, 2019 by Boeroer

[l_orion_l]

Thank you both for your input!  I really think this game is awesome and it's fun to talk about.  It's also great to hear from people that have such a knowledge of the game.

 

I modified my stats a bit based on what you have said Jaheiras.

 

I'm going to still give this a go and try and get "the ultimate" achievement for this.  I really do think the healing makes a difference. I will take what you guys have said and try and help my play-through be a little easier.  Hopefully sometime soon i'll post whether I made it or not! 

 

Thanks again guys~!

[InsaneCommander]

I'll keep an eye on this thread because I still want to try this challenge. These ideas look very interesting.

[Reent]

before lvl 9 i'd go with max might, max dex, max int, 15 per. 3 res. 3 con....

 

nothing beats kiting+summoning+white worms in act 2, its stupid

 

Gernisc Slew the Beast, but Soon Faced Its Kin can kill the bounties, White Worms can kill Heritage Hill without spending hours to do it, the Spider/bear Cave with a planned White Worms area is almost too easy and too fast.

 

 

I did it so many times i cant count it, i played a real TCS run vanilla game and a real blind ToI PoTD add on run (had to restart for every enemy that has stunlocks at least 1-2 times)

 

After one naked Chanter PoTD run i know that the ultimate achievement is just "about knowledge", chanters have enough tools to do anything, there were no fights i had to get "lucky" with rolls, i just had to figure out how to win that one particular fight

[Boeroer]

Yes. White Worms is one of the strongest effects in the early game. Mostly because you can reuse corpses over an over again and pile them (with kiting and luring) for ridiculous AoE dmg. You should deactivate the gib option in the game menu though (gibbed enemies leave no corpses).

 

Also the phantom is very strong in the early game and works completely decoupled from your stats, talents and gear.

[l_orion_l]

Updated the build at the top.  Everything is mostly the same except more information and I changed the starting stats.  Perception is truly a must even if you plan on using the phantom most of the time.  I found using scrolls in the hard battles to be needed.  I will keep updating this as I go along if people are interested.

[Boeroer]

If you have summons out that "tank" or block for you you can switch to a single handed weapon set. For whatever reason offensive chants (Soft Winds, Dragon Thrashed) gain +12 ACC from that (like the weapon attacks do). It seems to be an oversight that never got fixed. Pretty handy though.

 

You can then live with lower PER and still hit stuff good enough (with chants).

[l_orion_l]

If you have summons out that "tank" or block for you you can switch to a single handed weapon set. For whatever reason offensive chants (Soft Winds, Dragon Thrashed) gain +12 ACC from that (like the weapon attacks do). It seems to be an oversight that never got fixed. Pretty handy though.

 

You can then live with lower PER and still hit stuff good enough (with chants).

 

I find it hard to tank for a good portion of time with any summons, however I can outlast groups of 10-15 pretty easy if I'm not being attacked by more than 2.  This combined with a good Per gives me great flexibility and it's really safe.  I mean when I hit dragon trashed it may be good to switch to it at the start of the chant and go back to your shield?  I find Soft Winds really uninspiring. 

[philfromhell]

I'm new to this game, just doing a Chanter solo on PotD without ToI. I have reached lvl16 but haven't finished the game yet.

 

I guess ancient memory and beloved spirits is very good before lvl9, as Chanters are extremely slow before they get Dragon Thrashed. The two talents help you survive prolonged fights. I didn't take them, as a result I suffered on some occasions.

 

But perhaps they are not so important once you have DT, since by then you should be fast enough and fortitude becomes more of the winning hand, maybe will too, because paralyze attacks of some spirits target will defense. So probably you could respec for some defensive talents.

 

As for accuracy, I think it's generally enough. The accuracy of my DT at lvl 16 is 100, that's with Gallant's Focus, Gaunlets of Accuracy, 15 perception(with buffs) and small shield. I prefer to max MIG, INT and CON :D

 

Just personal opinions...

[l_orion_l]

Hi!  Thanks for the reply!  I love talking about this stuff.  I'm fairly new too.  I'll try and answer what I can on what I'm trying to do.

 

I guess ancient memory and beloved spirits is very good before lvl9, as Chanters are extremely slow before they get Dragon Thrashed. The two talents help you survive prolonged fights. I didn't take them, as a result I suffered on some occasions. 

 

 

Honestly I found ancient memory to be enough.  With high DR and passive healing from Moon-Godlike you don't need both early.  I'm going to swap around my talents a bit based on how I went about it.

 

ut perhaps they are not so important once you have DT, since by then you should be fast enough and fortitude becomes more of the winning hand, maybe will too, because paralyze attacks of some spirits target will defense. So probably you could respec for some defensive talents.

 

 

The whole point later on is to stack a bunch of healing bonuses so that your endurance is constantly up.  Boeroer's "Chill Fog" build describes this perfectly. (Healing Items, Might bonus, Survival Bonus, Mercy and Kindness)  With this you only have to worry about health.  Wound Binding also benefits from these bonuses making you have a ridiculous amount of time in battle if your are also tanky.  I will find out how much is enough when I get there and maybe take away Veterans Recovery for Bear Fortitude if I feel like all the healing from everything else is enough.

 

As for accuracy, I think it's generally enough. The accuracy of my DT at lvl 16 is 100, that's with Gallant's Focus, Gaunlets of Accuracy, 15 perception(with buffs) and small shield. I prefer to max MIG, INT and CON :D

 

 

All that is great and I agree, however the only damage increases I think for DT are Might, INT, and crits.  Crits come from higher accuracy.  Con is also great but with all the healing I might rather take a higher PER late game for more crits.

 

Again I'm not an expert, only experimenting.  If this turns out to be great I will post a full build.  If it sucks entirely I will own it and let everyone know.  I think it will be fine based on work Boeroer has already done.  I'll just try and map it out how to do it solo for the "ultimate" achievement.

[l_orion_l]

Updated all the information at the top.  Almost level 10 and made the level 9 respec!  Done with act 2 except the last quest.  I did all quests and it took a while.  Headed to the White March.  I drove off Darzir pretty easy.  I will keep this going with this if I still have more interest in it!

Edited February 4, 2019 by l_orion_l