Mindstalker (Soulblade) build advice

[Heresiarch]

I have returned to Deadfire after almost a year-old hiatus and tried to revive the very first build I tried. A Soulblade/Assassin with Whispers of the Endless Paths who specialized in removing enemies even before the battle starts in earnest.

As fun as this "backstab them with a ballista" build was, I wanted to do things differently (and less RNG dependent) and add more control and survivability to the build. So, I made a Soulblade/Trickster with a single weapon to make my Backstabs and Soul Annihilations more reliable. I was also planning to take plenty of CC and defensive abilities, as well as a few shreds for long range and AoE damage.

However, I soon found out that single weapon accuracy buff really doesn't compensate for the drop in damage compared to a two-hander. It takes considerable time for me to build back focus after a Soul Annihilation.

In the end (just a few levels in) I started thinking that maybe my Mindstalker build wasn't the best or that Beguiler didn't really fit the bill or taking one-handed weapons was a mistake.

Any pointers on building that type of Mindstalker (any working Soulblade) are very welcome. Saying that this build takes off at later level is welcome too, provided that it does take off, of course.

[dunehunter]

Whisper of endless path is not a good weapon for backstabbing, it’s a more defensive weapon than other 2h. Why not go soulblade/trickster + WotEP? U have higher deflection with mirror image + borrow instinct. Use offensive parry to generate focus and SA in aoe.

[Jayd]

I can tell you that one handed style is only really useful for triggering on-crit effects more often (think a skald who plans on doing most damage via spells). It's not a good idea for a cipher who relies on good weapon damage.

[Boeroer]

WotEP has the enchantment "Run Through" which is 1/encounter and is perfect for Backstabs.

If you want to make sure your Soul annihilation lands use Rännig's Wrath + modal in the main hand (+29 ACC) and a fast weapon in the offhand (e.g. Pukestabber). While SA is a primary attack and thus you will feel the longer recovery of the modal, all of the Rogue's Full Attacks will skip the Rapier's recovery and only execute the dagger's. That lets you build focus more quickly but you still keep the very high ACC for Soul Annihilation so that it doesn miss (and wastes all the focus).

Or you use Sun & Moon: it has two flail heads that each do a seperate attack roll. Sou you have twice the chance to not miss. Ad if you hit your SA with the first flail head the second one will already regenerate focus.

 

 

[Waski]

Sun and Moon flail ( or something like that).  You can spam soul annihilation all the time, first hit will dump focus, second regenerate it.  Monk shield  in the other hand (pick two weapon fighting,  weapon and shield and monastic unarmed training),  dmg with it is decent with all rouge bonuses and you still can execute full attacks from time to time. 

[Boeroer]

[MaxQuest]

22 hours ago, Heresiarch said:

Any pointers on building that type of Mindstalker (any working Soulblade) are very welcome. Saying that this build takes off at later level is welcome too, provided that it does take off, of course.

This depends on the context)

For a 5-man somewhat-specialized party, I see the following options for a multi-classed Soulblade:

v1. tactician/soulblade with emphasis on Clear Out / Power Strike with a 2H weapon (like WotEP and Eager Blade; with Chromoprismatic Staff + DW as backup)

v2. fighter/soublade with emphasis on Penetrating Strike with a DW setup (like sabre + rapier). 

v3. rogue/soublade with emphasis on Debilitating Strike (vs full-hp enemies) and Eliminating Blow (vs enemies with less than 40% hp) with a DW setup

And there are also:

a1. devout/soublade with emphasis on Clear Out / Power Strike / Mule Kick with Chromoprismatic Staff

a2. trickster/soublade with WotEP. Trickster is taken for Mirrored Image + Llengrath's Displaced Image. And for WotEP take Offensive Parry instead of Blade Form (like in v1).

a3. streetfighter/soulblade with Kitchen Stove and WotEP. The idea is to trigger self flanked for the -50% recovery time and switch to WotEP. And ofc to capitalize on both Thunderous Report and Spinning Assault. Although 2s weapon switch recovery is gonna sting; so you might want the Coil of Resourcefulness belt from Spoils of Caed Nua mod; or any other item that decreases switch time. 

a4. assassin/soulblade with Dragon's Dowry, Rod with modal on (or Red Hand) and WotEP (or some DW setup) (because you need to switch to melee before using SA). This is about trying to finish-off enemies with Eliminating Blow and maintain invis via Assassin's Boots.

Edited May 15, 2019 by MaxQuest

[Enoch]

I tinkered with a Trickster-Soulblade the other day, but I didn't find the signature ability all that fun.  It was my first try with the subclass, and it feels kind of at-odds with itself-- discounted Shred powers and Soul Annihilation compete for the same resources and don't seem to work together at all. 

Anyhow, I restarted the Mindstalker with Beguiler on the Cipher side, figuring I'll just dial the debuffing up to 11.  That's proving to be more my style.