Summoned greatsword builds - could use some advice

[Exanos]

Hello,

Wanted to start a new playthrough (PoTd - all upscaled) with a greatsword summoner. So far, two different build come to my mind and i could use some feedback from most experienced player.

 

1. - Build 1 : Tempest (Berserker/Druid) : This girl  is on fire...

 

Concept : Fire Godlike (RP mostly, but battle forged armor buff is welcome) summoning fire greatsword (PL2 druid spell) and burning everything in his path.  RP wise barbarian fit more than fighter   (rage and fire )

The good : 

• Great RP 
• Huge base damage
• Can start figth with kitchen stove and magran's favor for a huge alpha strike
• Druid have some armor and regen spells for improving survivability in melee
• A chanter with +fire damage song is a great companion

The bad :

• Fire immun ennemy are a pain
• Few druid spell are really usefull (melee oriented build, not caster)

Question :

• Is druid the best choice ? can you craft enough firesword scroll and take another subclass (Magran's priest...) ?

 

1. - Build 2 : Chaman (Berseker/Berath's priest)  or Devoted/Berath'priest : Death is coming...

Concept :  Deah Godlike summoning corrode greatsword (PL2 priest spell) and ending everything in his path

The good : 

• Great RP 
• Good base damage
• Amazing buff from priest side

 

The bad :

• Corrode immun ennemy are a pain
• No external bonus to corrode damage (like the fire song from a chanter)
• No other weapon deal corrode damage at range for alpha strike

Question :

• Can't decide between berseker and devoted... i tend for the 2nd cause clear out and +pen for no real downside., but with great base damage the barbarian buff on kill is quite nice.  Advice ?

[thelee]

I would recommend build 2, as devoted, over build 1. While I doubt you can craft enough scrolls to do build 1 without a druid, you can probably craft just enough so that you have backup fire greatswords where corrode isn't good enough.

Greatswords have problems with +PEN, so a devoted's passive +PEN bonus would be really really helpful. a Berserker doesn't work as well with a priest as it would in build 1 with a druid, because a priest can get Champion's Boon, which provides the same +PEN bonus that a berkserker gets. So a Devoted will get you +2 (passive), +2 (tenacious) for +4 PEN on your greatsword.

[Jayd]

Druid is probably only worth it if you are willing to use its caster side. If you really only want to cast buffs the Priest would be better. You won't regret taking Devoted for the PEN.

[AndreaColombo]

Also if you’re keen on using Firebrand, you can craft the scroll relatively cheaply and it only requires 2 Arcana (of which one can be acquired from a trainer), so you don’t need to be a Druid.

[Gromnir]

hot razor skewers is gonna get you +2 pen, +2 might and +1 power levels.  is a worthy food consideration if you are worried 'bout pen. not cheap, but money should never be an issue in a game such as deadfire.

an option not considered frequent is the melee ghost heart ranger/priest of berath. rangers have ridiculous high accuracy potential, and hunter's fang is gonna get you an additional accuracy boost beyond typical ranged ranger levels-- you will crit often.  extreme high occurrence o' crit will also result in more than a few over-penetrations, even with a greatsword.

we tend to go human for the accuracy boost when blooded (and 'cause am refusing to play any race called "godlike" *insert eye roll here*) but am not thinking race is essential to the build... oh, and summoning a dead spirit animal also works well with the priest o' berath concept, eh? 

"Ghost Hearts are rangers whose animal companions have died but remained in the In-Between as spirits to serve their masters. Ghost Hearts can summon the spirit of their companion in combat for a limited duration."

from personal experience, shamans with a two-hander build is excellent in potd, though we went wael rather than berath for full game play.  gameplay not much difference 'tween berath and wael, though at lower levels the arcane veil is a nice spell for a berserker. shaman is a multiclass we highly recommended, particular with the spirit tornado route.

even so, while a summoned greatsword build might not be our ideal ghost heart/priest combo, it works extreme well and is conceptual satisfying on multiple levels. 

HA! Good Fun!

[Boeroer]

4 hours ago, Exanos said:

Huge base damage

Same bas dmg as any other great sword actually. It's not as good as in PoE1 where it had tremendous base damage compared to a normal great sword.

Firebrand "only" has a 25% burning lash while Spiritual Greatsword of Berath's lash will scale with fitting dispositions.

And advantage of Firebrand however is that it works with the Ring of Focused Flames, giving it +10 ACC for every attack (even auto). That means you can trigger the modal which gives you +30% dmg but will only suffer -2 ACC compared to Berath's Spiritual Great Sword. Or you generate more crits for more PEN. Whatever: nice to have. It also works with Scion of Flame, giving you +1 PEN.

Sadly a Druid brings not much to the table when it comes to great swrd fighting. Unless you pick Whispers of teh Endless Paths and use Taste of the Hunt with it: It will apply the GoT to all AoE hits and those - in your case - can all trigger Blood Thirst. Combine it with a storm spell or Plague at the beginning of the encounter which wilalso trigger Blood Thirst and suddenly you become a 0 recovery murder machine. YOu can still summon Firebrand against non-mobs where it's better than WotEP. 

[Exanos]

Hey! Thanks for all theses feedback, 

On 6/3/2019 at 11:29 AM, thelee said:

I would recommend build 2, as devoted, over build 1. While I doubt you can craft enough scrolls to do build 1 without a druid, you can probably craft just enough so that you have backup fire greatswords where corrode isn't good enough.

Sadly, i can't mix fire and corrode cause RP (i know, i'm strange, but i need to have a coherent lore behind a build to keep playing it, if not, i usually lost interest after port maje... no matter how strong the character is ), if the multi berat'h priest/bleak walker was available it could have worked.

 

On 6/3/2019 at 12:18 PM, Jayd said:

Druid is probably only worth it if you are willing to use its caster side. If you really only want to cast buffs the Priest would be better. You won't regret taking Devoted for the PEN.

Yeah, i have some regret about this :

-> Fury (+Pen) is useless for firebrand, and not enoug fire spell worth enough the lost of healing (come on, Berseker/Fury would be great fun !)

-> No item grant firebrand (where are you gloves of the forgemaster!!!! ), But who knows for futur..."cough" COMMUNITY PATCH PLEASE! "cough"...

->Magran's priest summonned weapon.... why????? 

 

On 6/3/2019 at 1:39 PM, Gromnir said:

an option not considered frequent is the melee ghost heart ranger/priest of berath. rangers have ridiculous high accuracy potential, and hunter's fang is gonna get you an additional accuracy boost beyond typical ranged ranger levels-- you will crit often.  extreme high occurrence o' crit will also result in more than a few over-penetrations, even with a greatsword.

Not a bad idea at all, will have to try it !

 

On 6/3/2019 at 3:23 PM, Boeroer said:

Same bas dmg as any other great sword actually. It's not as good as in PoE1 where it had tremendous base damage compared to a normal great sword.

Firebrand "only" has a 25% burning lash while Spiritual Greatsword of Berath's lash will scale with fitting dispositions.

True, have not phrased correctly, should have say "hit like a truck which is really good for all bersekers on kill effect : easier to secure killing blow"

Could have been so nice to play a Berseker/Chanter wielding firebrand (from an item) while overlappping the songs  (didn't rememeber the names):

->  + fire lash on weapon 

->  + fire damage (which, sadly, is actually bad if i recall well)

 

Edit :  Is there a difference beeween the firebrand spell (druid) and the firebrand scroll ? First one get stronger with character lvl, did the 2nd one improve withe character lvl too or with arcana  (far from home for some time so can't check ) ?

 

Edited June 7, 2019 by Exanos