[CLASS BUILD] Hand Of Doom - Forbidden Fist/Steel Garrote

[Ophiuchus]

On 6/15/2021 at 10:23 AM, dgray62 said:

A monk with swift flurry and/or hearbeat drumming has a chance to proc another attack anytime you crit; it would certainly work, to fine effect, if you're wielding Citzal's or WotEP. As for Magistrate's Cudgel, you could certainly use it. But if you put it in your main hand, your swift flurry procs will be much less damaging. And if you put it in your offhand, you'll significantly lower your defenses. But you could experiment. A great alternate weapon set might be slayer's axe and the Cudgel. You could start battle with this, to upgrade tenacious to energized, and then switch over when you need more defense. Ball and chain with the irrepressible upgrade would also be great, since you'll constantly have hostile effects expiring, giving you the nice 15% damage boost almost constantly. You might explore these different options as you acquire them.

Good points. I was disappointed Magistrate's Cudgel wasn't opened to Paladins and Priests when Steel Garrote and Woedica were introduced, considering it is a Woedican weapon, so I figured this would be the best opportunity to implement it.

[Boeroer]

I consider this an oversight. It's really too bad.

[siema87]

Is this build (and forbidden fist in general) good for turn based run?

[pisoj]

So how should this be played? 

Go in, FF, take damage, cast MotS if nobody hits you....cast CoA...rinse repat?

[Boeroer]

Forbidden Fist doesn't gain wounds from getting damaged, so taking damage is not necessary. The Forbidden Fist ability will give you a wound when its curse expires. 

[Noes631]

Made FF / palladin, but with another stats - ive got 2 might 3 con. Is it viable with such a low fortitude? Or drop dex and rise might instead? (i dont want to dump int, because i do not solo)

[yorname]

Then it's very different from what this build is - high int means you can't use FF nearly as frequently, which means significantly less self healing and damage. And low might means low overall healing to anyone. I struggle to see what you want to do with this character tbh

[Boeroer]

15 hours ago, yorname said:

Then it's very different from what this build is - high int means you can't use FF nearly as frequently, which means significantly less self healing and damage. And low might means low overall healing to anyone. I struggle to see what you want to do with this character tbh

That depends. The upside of high INT is more potent healing via Lay on Hands and longer duration on Clarity of Agony, enfeebled, Eternal or Shared Devotion, bigger Aura AoE etc.

With maxed RES, Clarity and some -x% hostile effect duration gear the duration of the curse with high INT or with low INT isn't that much of a difference due to the double inversion math that's going on with reductions (malus). You can get to under 2 secs curse duration even with maxed INT. And with 2 MIG the curse won't do a lot of damage so before getting to max "-x% hostile effect duration" you might be able to stack two of them without too much hassle, too. 

I played several FF combos with maxed INT (and RES) and the curse duration wasn't much of an issue after some levels. 

Dropping DEX a bit and/or putting on fat armor and/or not using dual wielding but shield instead so that your recovery isn't shorter than the curse can help to not accidentially kill yourself while spamming FF ability. 

However, dumped MIG and CON is a bit weird. Since Fortitude is the most important defense against later game afflictions this might bite you in the rear at some point. But you can always switch to Duality of Mortal Presence: CON to ramp up the Fortitude I guess and combine it with Crucible of Suffering. Might suffice in a party, even as fronliner. 

[Noes631]

Think i will just dump dex and pump up might than.

Overall i think FF / pally would be a bit weaker in party compared to Bleak walker / priest of wael (beaten game with main like that - seemed OP in both damage and tankiness, while being usefull for group aswell) ?

What about affliction resistances of palladin? Wont they compensate for low fort? Affliction resistances from different sources (like chanter aura + pally resist + race) do stack?

[Constentin Lévine]

54 minutes ago, Noes631 said:

What about affliction resistances of palladin? Wont they compensate for low fort? Affliction resistances from different sources (like chanter aura + pally resist + race) do stack?

Resistances from race and passives or equipment doesnt stack (there is no level of resistance), but the chants that provide a resistance to an affliction downgrade to 1 level the current afflictions (and protect like a regular resistance the time the chant is active).

The effect (the chant) doesnt stack with itself, so the same chant is going to refresh the older timer on characters, but the same chant when the previous is over will downgrade again the current afflictions. This is especially efficient with the Troubadour modal that stop the linger of phrase.

[Noes631]

33 minutes ago, Constentin Lévine said:

Resistances from race and passives or equipment doesnt stack (there is no level of resistance), but the chants that provide a resistance to an affliction downgrade to 1 level the current afflictions (and protect like a regular resistance the time the chant is active).

The effect (the chant) doesnt stack with itself, so the same chant is going to refresh the older timer on characters, but the same chant when the previous is over will downgrade again the current afflictions. This is especially efficient with the Troubadour modal that stop the linger of phrase.

Thanks. Now i understand why my first PotD playthrough was so difficult for me - i didn't have a single chanter in group

[dgray62]

I've played the FF/SG votary several times. Usually I go with higher INT (at 15) and somewhat lower STR and DEX. But you can make adjustments as you wish. The build is very strong since you easily afflict enemies and then heal when you damage them. As for needing a chanter, while they're often very handy to have around, they're not really needed in my experience for this build. With your high RES and Clarity of Agony, afflictions aren't a problem, you'll shrug them off very quickly, and then get healing and a wound. So you'll find that you actually welcome afflictions, or may even be tempted to deliberately inflict them, by walking through a tanglefoot spell, for example.

[Boeroer]

I personally wouldn't really dump any attribute on a FF/SG (down to 3 I mean). I think it's one of those multiclasses where a rel. balanced attribute spread works well. I would always max RES with a FF though.

Edited August 4, 2022 by Boeroer

[dgray62]

I agree. For this build I usually go with PER and RES of 18, and then balance out the other attributes.