Making a Blade (Baldur's Gate inspired)

[TomReneth]

I love the Blade kit for Bards in BGEE and would love to play something similar in Pillars 1. I'm thinking the Chanter class is a good start.

The general idea is a Bard that does better than normal in melee combat by dual wielding, supplemented by spells and who can do support with his song. As the Chanter can chant passively, they do this a lot better than the BGEE Blade. 

How would you tecommend i put my stats? Which chants and invocations are the most useful? What weapons are the best for dual wielding?

Thanks!

[AeonsLegend]

Probably Warcaller then. 

https://pillarsofeternity2.wiki.fextralife.com/War+Caller

Best weapons is decided by the type of focus you want to have. For instance do you wan to go with a crit build or just on hit. Do you have a preference in type of weapons such as swords vs axes or is anything ok? If you go Devoted subclass for fighter you have to pick 1 type for the bonus or get a massive penalty. In that case two swords are pretty safe to go with. There's a lot to choose from and they have 2 damage types. Other than that axes are good and sabres are good as well. There's a sabre in the game that synergizes with chanter songs.

Stat wise I'd focus on everything except constitution and resolve. Focus specifically on perception if you want to go with a crit build. Otherwise any combo is ok.

• Might is important if you want to deal damage or heal. And chanter and fighter do both.
• Dexterity is good so you can cast more often and hit faster with weapons
• Perception is important for crit builds
• Intelligence is good for longer chanter effects and larger AoE for your chanter spells

Regarding spells just read them and choose whatever you feel is best and fits your style. Remember you can always pay money at the inn to change your setup whenever necessary.

If however you want to follow blade closer in terms of spells you may want to choose wizard since bards in DND pull from the wizard class and don't have their own spells. You just don't get a "bard song" nor the "bard" skills

 

Edit: dangit, this is the PoE forums and not the PoE II forums. No multiclassing involved here. I'll leave my post so it may be of use to you in PoE II. 

Edited May 1, 2019 by AeonsLegend

[Boeroer]

Haha...

Well - there are not that many melee options with a dual wielding "Blade" chanter.

Since it's called Blade I would presume you'd like to use blades (and not maces, hammers etc.). I personally would use sabres because:

a) there are several good unique ones that have enchantments that fit

b) they fit best thematically

c) chanters don't have a lot of additive melee dmg bonuses so they tend to have problems with enemies' DR if they use light weapons as rapiers and dagger - while sabres have good base dmg and come with their own 20% dmg bonus which helps with enemies' DR. THis also includes lashes (mnore on that later): fewer high lashes do better against DR than a lot of small lashes - because DR bypass doesn't work with lashes(!). While it helps a lot with fast weapons like stilettos and daggers and such to be able to penetrate with the primary damage type it does zilch for your attached lashes and that will make you lose a lot of dps IF you don't have any means to lower enemies DR. 

d) There's a sabre in the game which has two different dmg types (Bittercut) which helps to circumvent the problem of single damage type weapons

But... IF you have means of lowering enemies' DR (e.g. you make frequent use of the Hel Hyraff invocation and/or a party member Wizard who can cast Exposed Vulnerability) another good alternative would be a certain Rapier + Dagger setup:

Main hand: Sword of Danysis

Offhand: March Steel Dagger (later Drawn in Spring)

Those weapon can be obtained quite early and combine some very nice enchantments: forst of all the rapier is rending (+3 DR bypass) and has speed. Speed, besides wounding, is the most powerful enchantment when it comes to weapon dps. The March Steel Dagger has speed as well. If you combine this with dual wielduing and Two Weapon Style you will become lightning fast with your attacks. At some point you can use Vulnerable Attack without loosing attack speed. This not only helps with dps but also with having high reactivity. Since your recovery will be very short (or non-existent) you can react very quickly with an invocation. 

Thinking about it more, I think the Rapier + Dagger in combination with Hel Hyraff would be nice. -5 DR, combined with DR bypass and lashes is nothing to sneeze on. Concerning your abilities & talents, I would go for a fast yet sturdy setup which relies on passive self healing and self (and party) buffing. Your main chant would be Aefyllath Ues Mith Fyr to gain the burning lash on your and your party's weapons. You will enchant your own weapons with a burning lash. You could take Veteran's Recovery, Ancient Memory, Weapon Focus Ruffian, Two Weapon Style, Vulnerable Attack, Scion of Flame, Apprentice's Sneak Attack, Savage Attack.

 

[TomReneth]

13 hours ago, AeonsLegend said:

Probably Warcaller then. 

https://pillarsofeternity2.wiki.fextralife.com/War+Caller

Best weapons is decided by the type of focus you want to have. For instance do you wan to go with a crit build or just on hit. Do you have a preference in type of weapons such as swords vs axes or is anything ok? If you go Devoted subclass for fighter you have to pick 1 type for the bonus or get a massive penalty. In that case two swords are pretty safe to go with. There's a lot to choose from and they have 2 damage types. Other than that axes are good and sabres are good as well. There's a sabre in the game that synergizes with chanter songs.

Stat wise I'd focus on everything except constitution and resolve. Focus specifically on perception if you want to go with a crit build. Otherwise any combo is ok.

• Might is important if you want to deal damage or heal. And chanter and fighter do both.
• Dexterity is good so you can cast more often and hit faster with weapons
• Perception is important for crit builds
• Intelligence is good for longer chanter effects and larger AoE for your chanter spells

Regarding spells just read them and choose whatever you feel is best and fits your style. Remember you can always pay money at the inn to change your setup whenever necessary.

If however you want to follow blade closer in terms of spells you may want to choose wizard since bards in DND pull from the wizard class and don't have their own spells. You just don't get a "bard song" nor the "bard" skills

 

Edit: dangit, this is the PoE forums and not the PoE II forums. No multiclassing involved here. I'll leave my post so it may be of use to you in PoE II. 

Hehe, no worries. In PoE2, I think a Harbinger with the Trickster subclass is a better option, since Bards are rogues in BGEE.

 

2 hours ago, Boeroer said:

Haha...

Well - there are not that many melee options with a dual wielding "Blade" chanter.

Since it's called Blade I would presume you'd like to use blades (and not maces, hammers etc.). I personally would use sabres because:

a) there are several good unique ones that have enchantments that fit

b) they fit best thematically

c) chanters don't have a lot of additive melee dmg bonuses so they tend to have problems with enemies' DR if they use light weapons as rapiers and dagger - while sabres have good base dmg and come with their own 20% dmg bonus which helps with enemies' DR. THis also includes lashes (mnore on that later): fewer high lashes do better against DR than a lot of small lashes - because DR bypass doesn't work with lashes(!). While it helps a lot with fast weapons like stilettos and daggers and such to be able to penetrate with the primary damage type it does zilch for your attached lashes and that will make you lose a lot of dps IF you don't have any means to lower enemies DR. 

d) There's a sabre in the game which has two different dmg types (Bittercut) which helps to circumvent the problem of single damage type weapons

But... IF you have means of lowering enemies' DR (e.g. you make frequent use of the Hel Hyraff invocation and/or a party member Wizard who can cast Exposed Vulnerability) another good alternative would be a certain Rapier + Dagger setup:

Main hand: Sword of Danysis

Offhand: March Steel Dagger (later Drawn in Spring)

Those weapon can be obtained quite early and combine some very nice enchantments: forst of all the rapier is rending (+3 DR bypass) and has speed. Speed, besides wounding, is the most powerful enchantment when it comes to weapon dps. The March Steel Dagger has speed as well. If you combine this with dual wielduing and Two Weapon Style you will become lightning fast with your attacks. At some point you can use Vulnerable Attack without loosing attack speed. This not only helps with dps but also with having high reactivity. Since your recovery will be very short (or non-existent) you can react very quickly with an invocation. 

Thinking about it more, I think the Rapier + Dagger in combination with Hel Hyraff would be nice. -5 DR, combined with DR bypass and lashes is nothing to sneeze on. Concerning your abilities & talents, I would go for a fast yet sturdy setup which relies on passive self healing and self (and party) buffing. Your main chant would be Aefyllath Ues Mith Fyr to gain the burning lash on your and your party's weapons. You will enchant your own weapons with a burning lash. You could take Veteran's Recovery, Ancient Memory, Weapon Focus Ruffian, Two Weapon Style, Vulnerable Attack, Scion of Flame, Apprentice's Sneak Attack, Savage Attack.

 

Thematically, swords are definitely the way to go. That said, there's nothing stopping Blades from using other Bard weapons in BGEE either, so there is that. Sabres does seem like a nice option too, with Bittercut and sharing Weapon Focus with stilletos. That said, WF: Noble with Rapier and Dagger and Hyraff does seem tempting too.

What about stats and talents? You mentioned a couple.

[Boeroer]

Stats would look a bit like those of a rogue - although with that Rapier and Dagger you can get away with a bit less DEX than the usual rogue would like to have. Also DEX has no impact on chant speed and also no impact on the chanting pause after an invocation.

Rogues don't need much MIG since they can stack a lot of additive dmg bonuses  - while chanters can't. So you might want to have a bit more MIG. Also helps with Ancient Memory and Veteran's Recovery.

High INT is always advised with a chanter.

CON can be left at 10 - just don't try to rush in first. Play it like a flanker.

Same with RES.

So basically high PER, MIG, INT - CON, RES and DEX can be lower. A few points here and there don't matter much in PoE. Stats don't have the amount of inpact they had in BG/IWD and so on.

Talents are not that many to pick from if you want to use Veteran's Recovery and Ancient Memory. Weapon Focus, Two Weapon Style, Vulnerable Attack (only with the Rapier/Dagger setup), Scion of Flame, Savage Attack and Apprentice's Sneak Attack. That's it. You can't pick more than that. Scion of Flame is good because it will lift your Myth Fir lash by 20% AND the burning lash on your weapons by 20%. So they turn from 25% lash to a 30% lash in both cases. Lashes are multiplicative with all your other dmg modifiers (meaning they will add 25%/30% of your complete physical damage as burn damage) but have to overcome 1/4th ot the enemies' burn DR. The higher they are the better. Mutilple lashes don't get added up to a single big lash (I wish - but no). They stay seperated and have to overcome 1/4th of DR each. So - having two 30% lashes instead of two 25% lashes is good.

example: you cause 30 pierce damage, the enemy has 8 burn DR and you have two 25% burning lashes:

A (w/o Scion of Flame): 30 pierce + 2 * (7,5 burn - 2 DR = 5 burn) = 40 dmg overall

B (w Scion of Flame): 30 pierce + 2 * (9 burn - 2 DR = 7 burn) = 44 dmg overall 

[TomReneth]

4 minutes ago, Boeroer said:

Stats would look a bit like those of a rogue - although with that Rapier and Dagger you can get away with a bit less DEX than the usual rogue would like to have. Also DEX has no impact on chant speed and also no impact on the chanting pause after an invocation.

Rogues don't need much MIG since they can stack a lot of additive dmg bonuses  - while chanters can't. So you might want to have a bit more MIG. Also helps with Ancient Memory and Veteran's Recovery.

High INT is always advised with a chanter.

CON can be left at 10 - just don't try to rush in first. Play it like a flanker.

Same with RES.

So basically high PER, MIG, INT - CON, RES and DEX can be lower. A few points here and there don't matter much in PoE. Stats don't have the amount of inpact they had in BG/IWD and so on.

Talents are not that many to pick from if you want to use Veteran's Recovery and Ancient Memory. Weapon Focus, Two Weapon Style, Vulnerable Attack (only with the Rapier/Dagger setup), Scion of Flame, Savage Attack and Apprentice's Sneak Attack. That's it. You can't pick more than that. Scion of Flame is good because it will lift your Myth Fir lash by 20% AND the burning lash on your weapons by 20%. So they turn from 25% lash to a 30% lash in both cases. Lashes are multiplicative with all your other dmg modifiers (meaning they will add 25%/30% of your complete physical damage as burn damage) but have to overcome 1/4th ot the enemies' burn DR. The higher they are the better. Mutilple lashes don't get added up to a single big lash (I wish - but no). They stay seperated and have to overcome 1/4th of DR each. So - having two 30% lashes instead of two 25% lashes is good.

example: you cause 30 pierce damage, the enemy has 8 burn DR and you have two 25% burning lashes:

A (w/o Scion of Flame): 30 pierce + 2 * (7,5 burn - 2 DR = 5 burn) = 40 dmg overall

B (w Scion of Flame): 30 pierce + 2 * (9 burn - 2 DR = 7 burn) = 44 dmg overall 

I'll give it a shot. AoE Burning Lash is definitely something I'm looking forward to; I always love having Kana around for that normally.

[Boeroer]

It would be cool if chanters had a talent/ability that would make their chants stronger but remove the AoE so that only the chanter profits. Like he's humming the tune only for himself. Mith Fyr is very good with a party but if you want to play a damage dealing chanter (and no support) it's no alternative to The Dragon Thrashed for example.

 

We have that (kind of) as the Bellower subclass in Deadfire.

Edited May 2, 2019 by Boeroer