Jump to content

Recommended Posts

How are these classes? I was debating trying them. Probably I would do either as a single class since they seem best suited for that. 

 

Evoker seems straight forward I guess. Pick the best nukes and go to town? Not sure what gear or grimoires are ideal for that.

 

As for Arcane Archer, I'd guess it would want to focus on Frostseeker or such? 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I made an Arcane Archer/Bleak Walker on Boeroer's suggestion and it's pretty amazingly good. He suggested Spearcaster (which scales with Arcana like your Imbues) but I've been using Dragon's Dowry to similarly great effect. I haven't tried Evoker as a main character but I made one for one of my max level parties and they are crazy powerful, especially with a cipher giving them infinite spells. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Evoker is pretty straightforward. Pile up PL gear (Stone of Power, Firethrower Gloves, Magran's Favor, Sun & Moon, maybe even go Nature Godlike for +1 PL via Infuse with VE or Alacrity) and pick all the passives that sound good. You can pick the spells you always want to use no matter the grimore (like self buffs) - but else I would suggest to get your offensive spells via grimoire and not picking too many actives - choose passives instead. That way you can switch to a fitting grimoire - based on the enemy.  Of course as a SC Evoker you wil not be able to only pick meaningful passives since there aren't too many - but you get the general idea.

 

Then go to town with your PL madness.

You can try to muticlass with a Berserker or Furyshaper:

  • Frenzy (faster casts, more dmg - if Berseker due to Tenacious: +2 PEN)
  • Bloodlust (you will kill a lot and often benefit from even faster casts)
  • Frenzy Ward: even faster casts (stacks)
  • Blood Thirst (this is the bomb - no recovery after kills with spells...)
  • Spirit Frenzy (Stagger foes with all spell dmg)
  • Savage Defiance (emergency heal)
  • Brute Force (pick the lower defense automatically which is great)
  • Fear Ward: great for not getting attacked in melee while casting

You will lose Power Levels (2) and the high level spells - but you can spam spells like crazy at a certain level. It makes for a more interesting experience during the mid game but I think it's lower endgame power due to the lack of those very impactful PL8/9 spells. However - Blood Thirst + spells like Delayed Fireball (with the support of Magran's Favor + Sun & Moon + Gloves + Ring) just make me laugh. I also like to stand in my own fireballs with the Fractured Casque + Scorched Cloak + an injury. Look really Warlockish and heals my buttocks while I'm nuke-spamming the heck out of everything around me.

 

 

Archane Archer - a few things to consider:

  • that ACC penalty only occurs if you use non-elemental abilities and auto-attacks with a weapon that has no elemental keyword. It's fairly easy to circumvent the penatly - and very early in the game as well. You simply use a weapon that has an elemental keyword (Frostseeker, Essence Interrupter, Dragon's Dowry...)
  • Multi-projectile weapons and abilites (Heartseeker for example) will not trigger imbue spells multiple times. It even used to be so that only the first projectile hits, then triggers the imbued spell - and weirdly the rest gets completely omitted(!). Hope that got fixed...
  • Multi-jump weapons (and abilities like Driving Flight and Wild Shot) will trigger multiple imbue spells. So an attack with Watershaper's Rod/Fire in the Hole + Driving Flight using Imbue:Fireball will result in 3 Fireballs. An attack with Kitchen Stove + Wild Barrage + Driving Flight + Imbue Fireball will result in 4 Fireballs (note that Fury's natural weapon jump does not stack with Driving Flight - for whatever weird reason).
  • All weapon abilites that have an elemental keyword (e.g. Flames of Devotion) will not receive the ACC pentaly

I suggested a Bleak Walker (or any Paladin)/Archane Archer with Spearcaster as main weapon for the following reasons:

  • Flames of Devotion gets a +10 ACC bonus and does not suffer the ACC penalty
  • Ring of Focused Flame works with FoD (another +10 ACC). It also works with Imbue Fireball (+10 ACC)
  • Eternal Devotion works on all damaging imbued spells (e.g. Fireball gets a burning lash)
  • Sworn Enemy works with the imbue spells (+20% dmg)
  • Brand Enemy can be used to put an everlasting DoT on the enemy which will unlock Predator's Sense all the time (Sworn Rival is also great of course if you don't want to use your Animal Companion offensively)
  • Flames of Devotion (especially Bleak Walker's) works extremely well with Takedown Combo. The 100% additive dmg will get mutiplied by the two lashes of a Bleak Walker's FoD
  • You have more heals for your AC
  • You can either increase your ACC even further with Zealous Focus or protect & heal your AC via Exalted Endurance
  • You can even revive the AC without injury (since ACs can't have injuries)
  • Scion of Flame gives your Imbue Fireball +1 PEN (not bad 'cause the PL scaling of the Imbue spells is still messed up)
  • Since you are skilling for Arcana anyways (Imbue spells' scaling) you can as well go for Spearcaster (early, awesome weapon) and get total ACC overkill which crits even bosses all the time. Since you have lots of FoD uses you won't receive the ACC pentaly too soon. And even if the -5 ACC hardly matter while you stacked massive amounts of ACC before
  • Elemental Bolts's mini-lashes add to your FoD lash and work very well with Takedown Combo - and I think (not 100% sure) they also add to the imbued spells 
  • Pinning from Spearcaster is just great
  • I can interrupt/prone with an arbalest via modal very reliably with such high ACC

Dragon's Dowry is also cool since it doesn't get any ACC pentaly at all - no matter what attack you choose. It also works with the Ring oFF all the time, meaning that even auto-attacks get +10 ACC. Its burning lash of 30% is very powerful. Of course it lacks the Arcana-ACC, it has lesser crit damage (and Arcane Archer can crit a lot) and an inherent ACC penatly of -5.

 

Both work well. Frostseeker also works - but as long as the multi-projectile bug is not fixed (additonal projectiles don't connect with imbue shots) I would only want to use this as backup for when my Bond is empty.

 

Remember that with Imbue Shots the most effective weapons are those which add jumps though. I used FoD a lot - so in that case Dragon's Dowry and Spearcaster etc. are very nice. But for pierce immune enemies a brought Watershaper's Focus anyway (or Fire in the Hole since it does pierce/slash). So I found myself switching to the WS Focus several times when I wanted to use Imbue:Fireball even though with Spearcaster I would have had a lot more ACC. Also the WS Focus'es Blast can add AoE damage to the Fireballs (and does so thrice due to 2 jumps). 

 

A single class Arcane Archer can have Imbue: Death which is very, very devastating with multi-jumps. For me this is the only reason to go single class with an Arcane Archer. You will buy this power with a more "bland" Arcane Archer before getting Imbue Death though (in my opinion).

 

Other class-combos might also work very well - it's just so that I have played that Bleak Walker/Arcane Archer for a whole playthrough and was pretty amazed by its ability to crit just anything with high impact.

PS: Against Ironclads and such you want to bring Essence Interrupter. I would totally recommend it as no. 1. weapon besides Dragon's D. and Spearc. if it hadn't that loot-destroying bug.  :)

Edited by Boeroer
  • Like 6

Deadfire Community Patch: Nexus Mods

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks for the tips Boeroer. That's good stuff and gives me a lot to think about. 

Regarding the Berserker/Furyshaper - do you think those are still worth it on turn based? I would probably be playing TB mode. I guess I should have added that. Are the Barbarian action speed passives still worth it there? 

 

Bleakwalker/Arcane Archer definitely sounds fun. That is tempting. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've done both SC AA and Bleak Walker/AA on TB now. TB is great for Spearcaster builds because you can freely leave the modal on and save some ability points (you don't need Gunner anymore). You don't even lose much initiative advantage because Pinning and interrupts negatively affect enemy initiative. Note that sometimes the Arbalest modal's initiative effect glitches to apply to your initiative turn one - you can avoid this by turning it off post combat.

 

Imbue Death and extra Bond absolutely make SC AA worth it end game but Bleak Archer is more fun the whole way through. It's also worth noting that any Paladin sub is fine for AA if you don't like BW's disposition. Kind Wayfarers is especially nice early game to help keep your AC on its feet. BW is the best for damage by far though.

 

I also recommend a mod that allows you to get the Bird AC. Being disengagement proof is nice for your AC because you're going to want to have them be able to end their turn inside your healing aura.

 

Barb action speed passives are still good on caster multis because spells still benefit from action speed in TB. You will resolve more spells if you can cast them faster than enemy initiative.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Oh - Barb's speed boosts are nice in RTwP. I have no idea about TB though. I didn't even try it so I can't say anything about it.

 

My recommendations are always "PotD RTwP only". ;)

Edited by Boeroer
  • Like 2

Deadfire Community Patch: Nexus Mods

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Oh - Barb's speed boosts are nice in RTwP. I have no idea about TB though. I didn't even try it so I can't say anything about it.

 

My recommendation are always "PotD RTwP only". ;)

 

I've gotten most of the way through TB Potd on my current run (Cleric) and yeah maybe I'm underrating having a casting speed bonus. I'm tabling that run for now since I've gotten a little bored on that character. It was a good character but I've played a lot of tank type characters on Poe2 and want to mix it up with something more dps focused - hence these two characters. I also still have a Druid from Poe1 I'll eventually play - probably an Ancient for that - but that's a couple playthroughs off at this point :).

 

I guess the Barb abilities would probably make next round actions happen earlier which would mean a better chance of getting spells off before an enemy tries to interrupt. Of course Spirit Shield is a free action as is Arcane Veil so having concentration on a caster isn't usually a huge deal unless you're taking a lot of hits in a row in the same round - which honestly does happen in some fights with lots of ranged enemies. 

 

So since I really like both of these character ideas I'll probably just pick one, play it, and then eventually try the other. I'll see which way my whims take me when I get to the character creation screen later today but I think you guys have convinced me to go either Berserker(or Fury)/Evoker or Arcane Archer/Bleak Walker. Both sound fun as hell.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I still have a picture of my Warlock (the Battle Axe was just for show - I used Magran's Favor + Sun and Moon mostly):

 

battle_axe_dancer.gif?dl=1

A was able to put a beard on an Island Aumaua because of a glitch in the Character Editor. He's not wearing armor (only Dancer's outfit) because the Scorched Cloak works best if you have very low burn DR while you nuke yourself with Fireballs and Wall of Flames and other fire stuff. Also means no speed penalty of course.

Edited by Boeroer
  • Like 1

Deadfire Community Patch: Nexus Mods

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I still have a picture of my Warlock (the Battle Axe was just for show - I used Magran's Favor + Sun and Moon mostly):

 

battle_axe_dancer.gif?dl=1

A could put a beard on an Island Aumaua with a glitch in the Character Editor. He's not wearing armor (only Dancer's outfit) because the Scorched Cloak works best if you have very low burn DR while you nuke yourself with Fireballs and Wall of Flames and other fire stuff. Also means no speed penatly of course.

 

 

 

That's awesome. You're really tempting me right now with that character idea.

 

How did you apply injuries to yourself to make the most of Revku gear? Knockout injuries are kinda severe, no? I assume there's some better way to do it or did you just try to find traps or such?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

That's no problem with a Warlock:

 

The "best" one is Acute Rash which can be applied to yourself very easily outside of combat with Necrotic Lance which you can cast on yourself.

 

Another one which is easy and not too bad with the Scorched Cloak especially is Serious Burn which you simply achieve by casting a Wall of Flame upon you and nuking yourself with Fireballs. Not too bad with the cloak because it implies a reduced burn DR which you actually want (lesser burn DR = more burn damage which gets transformed into healing).

 

To speed things up your party members can hack on you conventionally until you are low on HP and then you finish the job with the corresponding spell. The kind of damage you take with the "killing blow" will determine the injury. So Fireball means Serious Burn, Necrotic Lance means Acute Rash and so on. It's 100% reliable.  

Edited by Boeroer
  • Like 2

Deadfire Community Patch: Nexus Mods

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Got through the prologue easily enough so far. Character hits pretty hard so far even with just basic gear. Just got to Neketaka so will be buying Spearcaster soon enough.

 

I have noticed that enemies seem to be making a bee line for me though. Not sure why that is. They'll ignore Aloth, Xoti, and anyone else I use just to rush towards and beat on my Ranger/Bleak Walker. That can be a problem if a lot of enemies have high initiative but if I can live past that first round I'm usually fine. 

 

Actually the enemies have wanted a piece of my Ranger so badly that they've even been willing to take disengagement hits from Eder to rush past him and try to beat on me like a rented mule.

 

Given the frequency of that happening so far I think I'm gonna invest in Eder having the upgraded engagement fighter stance which prones enemies that disengage. Also might be worth using a little bit of con/protective gear on myself. But aside from enemies hating my guts the dps has been really good so far. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Got through the prologue easily enough so far. Character hits pretty hard so far even with just basic gear. Just got to Neketaka so will be buying Spearcaster soon enough.

 

I have noticed that enemies seem to be making a bee line for me though. Not sure why that is. They'll ignore Aloth, Xoti, and anyone else I use just to rush towards and beat on my Ranger/Bleak Walker. That can be a problem if a lot of enemies have high initiative but if I can live past that first round I'm usually fine. 

 

Actually the enemies have wanted a piece of my Ranger so badly that they've even been willing to take disengagement hits from Eder to rush past him and try to beat on me like a rented mule.

 

Given the frequency of that happening so far I think I'm gonna invest in Eder having the upgraded engagement fighter stance which prones enemies that disengage. Also might be worth using a little bit of con/protective gear on myself. But aside from enemies hating my guts the dps has been really good so far. 

Did you dump Resolve? Enemies prioritize your party members with low deflection and armour.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

Got through the prologue easily enough so far. Character hits pretty hard so far even with just basic gear. Just got to Neketaka so will be buying Spearcaster soon enough.

 

I have noticed that enemies seem to be making a bee line for me though. Not sure why that is. They'll ignore Aloth, Xoti, and anyone else I use just to rush towards and beat on my Ranger/Bleak Walker. That can be a problem if a lot of enemies have high initiative but if I can live past that first round I'm usually fine. 

 

Actually the enemies have wanted a piece of my Ranger so badly that they've even been willing to take disengagement hits from Eder to rush past him and try to beat on me like a rented mule.

 

Given the frequency of that happening so far I think I'm gonna invest in Eder having the upgraded engagement fighter stance which prones enemies that disengage. Also might be worth using a little bit of con/protective gear on myself. But aside from enemies hating my guts the dps has been really good so far. 

Did you dump Resolve? Enemies prioritize your party members with low deflection and armour.

 

 

No, I didn't. I don't think I even have the lowest deflection in the party usually thanks to the Paladin defense bonuses.

 

Only thing I can think of is maybe they prioritize the Arcane Archer because of the penalty to health that class gets?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

They'll definitely prioritize lower health on PotD. They're good at focusing down a character. Even with Deep Faith and a non-dumped RES, you gotta keep in mind that your melee DEF is at -10 for using a ranged weapon. I think enemies with engagement also have AI set to engage ranged characters. I'm not sure if that's a reaction to the -10 melee DEF or if they're keyed to specifically target ranged weapon users but it's something I've noticed.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

About level 9 now and this character is wrecking faces. My god does it hit hard with the Spearcaster. Anything that I can penetrate reliably on gets destroyed. 12 base pen on Arbalest and then +3 from Superb quality on Spearcaster. Soon enough it will be Mythic as I took that Berath blessing. Just need to get it to Legendary first.

 

I have the Devil's armor on too so even though I'm only level 8 I think I have something like 8 Bond and 8 Zeal which means tons of spammable dps abilities. I switch to the Watershaper Rod sometimes when I wanna hit a group with imbues. I did have to spend most of my cash from blessings + quests I've done so far to get Spearcaster/Devil's Armor but it was so worth it. 

 

The dps on this is gonna be scary once I have takedown combo. The accuracy is sky high so far too thanks to Ring Of Focused flame + Devotions + Spearcaster. So there's lots of crits, and even when I don't, I reliably hit. Took the wolf pet which seems to do reliable damage with Sworn Enemy on what I'm attacking.

 

Anyways all that is to say thanks for the tips. Character is a lot of fun. The single target dps on this is so high that it reminds me of how strong Rangers were in Poe1. There's even a little bit of utility with lay on hands/imbue web although most often so far I prefer to use my bond/zeal for imbue missiles or devotions of flame respectively. But sometimes I like to pin enemies in place with an imbue web and let Tekehu/Aloth go to town with aoe nukes.

 

But I'm rambling now. Character is fun and I'd definitely recommend the class for anyone who enjoys high single target dps.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Cool.

 

I also like that it's a good healer and can even be a nice support with Zealous Aura and Liberating Exortation and so on - without sacrificing any ranged damage.

  • Like 1

Deadfire Community Patch: Nexus Mods

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Cool.

 

I also like that it's a good healer and can even be a nice support with Zealous Aura and Liberating Exortation and so on - without sacrificing any ranged damage.

 

Definitely true. 

 

I imagine the only time it might suffer is vs enemies with super high pierce/slash armor but I guess on those I could switch to Essence Interrupter as my 2nd weapon instead of the Watershaper Focus. Or maybe even just stick with Spearcaster since the accuracy is so high that the build crits a lot which can make up somewhat for enemies with high armor.

 

But I haven't noticed pen issues yet. But haven't fought many constructs, so we'll see how that goes.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Some skeletal foes and Flame Blights are immune to pierce. Essence Interrupter is a great backup weapon - but unfortunately still destroys loot with crits. So don't use it against enemies who drop unique items. :) 

  • Like 1

Deadfire Community Patch: Nexus Mods

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Some skeletal foes and Flame Blights are immune to pierce. Essence Interrupter is a great backup weapon - but unfortunately still destroys loot with crits. So don't use it against enemies who drop unique items. :)

 

Only problem is only having two slots and I like having the Watershape focus for my 2nd wep for when I fire imbues. 

 

Maybe I should use that ring or whichever item it is that gives +1 weapon slot. I forget which item that is or if it would take up a valuable slot though. I remember seeing it in my previous run though.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It's Giftbearer's Cloth, a cloak from one of the uncharted islands. It's a Cloak of Protection that scales off the History skill. It doesn't take too much investment to make it better than a Cloak of Greater Protection, so if you can spare some skill points for History, it shouldn't be taking the slot of something else important.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...