[COMPANION BUILD] The Weyc Engferth, Ultimate Edition

[Ascaloth]

The truth of the Painted Masks was a revelation that shook Aloth to the core. As he continued on his journey with the Watcher of Caed Nua, he found himself questioning his effectiveness of his work regarding the Leaden Key, and doubting in his own ability to see his cause through. But then the Defiant landed on the Black Isle, and the party arrived at the Halls Obscured.

Although the Elf was as shocked as anyone else in the party at the horrors witnessed in the Collections, the seed of a whole new scheme was planted in Aloth's mind when he saw the Archives. And by the time they were done with everything they had come to accomplish and were making to leave, that seed germinated and bore fruit.

After all, he may have spent much effort to little avail over the last few years trying to track down each and every cell of the Leaden Key... but if there were ever any records on where in all Eora they could be found, would they not be located somewhere in the Central Stacks?

On top of that, the Watcher had just so conveniently disposed of the Oracle, the Halls'  erstwhile caretaker. Plus, with the passing of Fyonlecg, there was a gap in the leadership of the Hand Occult, and the accoutrements of the Weyc were right there for his taking...

With that in mind, Aloth resolved to seize the opportunity which had presented itself. In the aftermath of their encounter with Eothas at Ukaizo, Aloth claimed what he needed for his next task, bade farewell to the Watcher, and chartered a ship to his next destination.

So see nothing of Weyc Engferth, for she watches you still.

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The Weyc Engferth, Ultimate Edition

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Difficulty: PotD v5.0.0.0040

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Class: Wizard

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Race: Wood Elf

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Background: Aedyr (Gentry)

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Stats (char creation, no Berath's Blessings):

MIG: 12

CON: 10

DEX: 15

PER: 15

INT: 16

RES: 10

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Active Skill: Any

Passive Skill: Any

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Weapon Proficiencies:

Rapier (a)

Scepter (a)

Small Shield ®

Wand ®

Sword ®

Battle Axe

Quarterstaff

 

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Abilities (a=auto, r=recommended, !=important)

 

PL1

Wizard

Minoletta's Minor Missiles (a) (!)

Thrust of Tattered Veils (!)

 

PL2

Wizard

Mirrored Images ®

Infuse with Vital Essence

Combusting Wounds (!)

 

PL3

Wizard

Deleterious Alacrity of Motion

Llengrath's Displaced Image

Arcane Dampener (!)

 

PL4

Wizard

Minor Arcane Reflection ®

Flame Shield

Pull of Eora ®

 

PL5

Wizard

Blast of Frost

Ryngrim's Enervating Terror

Llengrath's Safeguard ®

 

PL6

Wizard

Minoletta's Precisely Piercing Burst

Chain Lightning

Common

Spell Resistance

 

PL7

Wizard

Wall of Draining (!)

Tayn's Chaotic Orb

Common

Penetrating Empower ®

Potent Empower ®

 

PL8

Wall of Many Colors ®

Kalakoth's Freezing Rake

Temporal Cocoon

Common

Great Soul (!)

 

PL9

Wizard

Minoletta's Missile Salvo (!)

Petrification

Common

Prestige (!)

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Items (*=additional enchantments; !=important, r=recommended):
 

Weapon set 1: The Weyc's Wand (soulbound, Wael's Sight!) (!), The Weyc's Oracular Focus (Strengthened Enlarge Shield, Lasting Channeled Shield ®)

Weapon set 2: Magran's Favor (Blazing Core, Enduring Flame), Griffin's Blade (Hound's Courage*®) ®

Chest: Robes of the Weyc (soulbound, Mirrored Empower®, Omnipotence!) (!)

Helmet: The Mask of the Weyc ®

Amulet: The Third Eye ®

Grimore/Trinket: Ninagauth's Teachings (!)/Iron-clasped Grimoire (!)

Cloak: Shroud of the Phantasm (!)

Gloves: Firethrower's Gloves ®

Ring: Kuaru's Prize ®

Ring: Ring of Boundless Stars

Belt: Least Unstable Coil (!)

Boots: Vithrack Silk Slippers ®

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When I theorycraft in Deadfire, I usually prefer to work on multi-class builds. That's because I enjoy finding synergies between the skills of both classes, and putting together something that works better than the sum of its parts.

 

But Aloth is the only exception to that rule to date, because the Wizard's PL8 and PL9 spells are just that good, and I've yet to figure out any synergies that can match their power in either of his multiclass options. On top of that, Aloth is the only one amongst the Companions and Sidekicks who can be a single-class pure Wizard (Fassina doesn't count).

 

Because of this, I had to search for synergies that work with him through equipment, and I eventually found that the Weyc set from the Forgotten Sanctum DLC offers a truly powerful synergy with Aloth like nothing else I've seen so far.

 

Therefore, while Aloth is always an asset to the party throughout (because Wizard), he becomes practically indispensable after FS, especially for the toughest encounters in the entire game.

 

(Note on “Ultimate Edition” builds: With the release of the Ultimate Edition on PS4 and XBox, there will be many first-time players of Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire who will be searching for builds online, only to find that most available builds were created for earlier versions of the game. While many of those are still viable even in the final version of Deadfire, this would not be apparent to new players; thus, builds such as this will be tagged as “Ultimate Edition” to indicate that they’ve been tested for version 5.0.0 of Deadfire, including all DLCs.)

 

The Wrath of the Weyc

 

And it all stems from a couple of simple interactions; when soulbound to a Wizard like Aloth, The Weyc's Wand offers the Wael's Sight enchantment, which converts 100% of Misses into Grazes on an Empowered attack.

 

Which doesn't sound all that powerful, to be sure. But here's the thing; it applies to every single missile that's produced by the PL9 Wizard spell Minoletta's Missile Salvo. That means it doesn't matter how high an enemy's defenses are, Aloth...

 

 

Just...

 

 

Can't...

 

 

****ing...

 

 

...Miss.

 

Of course, Aloth can only pull this off once per encounter, so even that isn't enough to take out the Megabosses by itself. But while the sheer damage that a laser-guided Missile Salvo can do is spectacular in its own right, the true value lies in its synergy with the Least Unstable Coil; the Empowered Being enchantment that's also activated with the Empowerment of Minoletta's Missile Salvo gives a random Tier 3 Inspiration with every hit scored by a spell. And apparently not only do Grazes count for proccing it, but Empowered Being activates for every single laser-guided missile produced by the Salvo.

 

 

This means that after the Wael-Empowered Minoletta's Missile Salvo hits, Aloth will achieve demigod mode with all six Tier 3 Inspirations active on his person.

 

And giving Aloth the Robes of the Weyc means his Empowerment of Minoletta's Missile Salvo also activates the Omnipotence enchantment on the armor, which gives the Brilliant Inspiration to all nearby party members as well. So keep a Priest nearby Aloth when he fires it off, and you can spam Salvation of Time to extend Aloth's demigod-hood until the end of the encounter, no matter how long it lasts.

 

At this point, the only question left is; how well can you make use of all that power while it lasts?

 

Final Thoughts

Pros:

• Empowerment gives a single use of Minoletta's Missile Salvo that can bypass all defenses, even that of the Megabosses.
• It also gives Aloth Energized, Robust, Swift, Intuitive, Brilliant, and Courageous in one go.
• It even gives nearby allies Brilliant as well, so a Priest can keep all his Inspirations going with Salvation of Time spam.
• For the cherry on the cake, this build can be replicated by any Watcher or hireling Wizard with better-optimised Races and Attributes.

 

Cons:

• Cannot be replicated with Wizard multiclasses (no access to PL9 Wizard spells), Conjurors and Transmuters (no access to Evocation), or Blood Mages (no access to Empowerment).
• Doesn't do anything to help with the stick up Aloth's arse, unfortunately.

 

Edited February 29, 2020 by Ascaloth

[Boeroer]

Haha - hilarious! Late game stuff - but what a great synergy of items and one single ability.

But... shouldn't that multiple-Tier-3-inspiration trick also work with other abilities that do multiple attack rolls? Like pulsing stuff (Chillfog, Walls, Beams, Freezing Pillar) or Minor/Concussive/Bounding Missiles so that you could also use this with a multiclass build? Minor Missiles wouldn't even need the Weyc's Wand since it auto-hits anyways...?

[Ascaloth]

1 minute ago, Boeroer said:

Haha - hilarious! Late game stuff - but what a great synergy of items and one single ability.

But... shouldn't that multiple-Tier-3-inspiration trick also work with other abilities that do multiple attack rolls? Like pulsing stuff (Chillfog, Walls, Beams, Freezing Pillar) or Minor/Concussive/Bounding Missiles so that you could also use this with a multiclass build? Minor Missiles wouldn't even need the Weyc's Wand since it auto-hits anyways...?

Yes, I actually got the idea from some other thread I read a few months back, where someone demonstrated the same interaction for Least Unstable Coil with the Chanter's Thrice Was She Wronged/Her Revenge Swept Invocation. That's actually the idea that inspired me to wonder whether I could get the same effect with the Missile Salvo.

As for other spell options, the 'pulsing' spells didn't even cross my mind; it's certainly worth testing out. As for the other Minoletta spells... yeah, it's true. That said, the Least Unstable Coil hands out Inspirations randomly, so I figured you want a spell that hits as many times as possible to maximize the chances of getting all six Inspirations; and as far as I know, the Empowered Missile Salvo dishes out more hits than any of its lesser cousins, even if you Empower them.

[Boeroer]

Sure - I think it produces the most hit rolls on a single enemy which is very reliable. Combined with the then reliable damage output it's great.

But an empowered AoE pulse (like Chillfog) could theoretically produce more hit rolls if you can reach enough enemies I think? Of course it will take longer to accumulate them. It may be that Wall spells don't work because they have some weird hazard mechanic that prevents that hit rolls are tied to the actual char who cast it in some cases (see Arkemyr's Brilliant Departure with Wall spells which won't break the invisibility).

Just trying to find a way to keep your initial idea but somehow enable multiclassing.

It's great that there's a wizard build that doesn't (kind of) force you to pick Bloodmage. Imagine an Evoker who empowers Missile Salvo with all the gear and then the double cast kicks in.

 

Edited February 29, 2020 by Boeroer

[Ascaloth]

4 minutes ago, Boeroer said:

Sure - I think it produces the most hit rolls on a single enemy which is very reliable. Combined with the then reliable damage output it's great.

But an empowered AoE pulse (like Chillfog) could theoretically produce more hit rolls if you can reach enough enemies I think? Of course it will take longer to accumulate them. It may be that Wall spells don't work because they have some weird hazard mechanic that prevents that hit rolls are tied to the actual char who cast it in some cases (see Arkemyr's Brilliant Departure with Wall spells which won't break the invisibility).

Just trying to find a way to keep your initial idea but somehow enable multiclassing.

It's great that there's a wizard build that doesn't (kind of) force you to pick Bloodmage. Imagine an Evoker who empowers Missile Salvo with all the gear and then the double cast kicks in.

 

Welp, now I'm going to have to see whether Least Unstable Coil would work with stuff like Chill Fog and Malignant Cloud now.

That said, there's another reason why I chose the spell that produces the most hit rolls on a single enemy; as you can see from the images above, that means this interaction also works with the Megabosses. Those are precisely the encounters where Aloth gets the most use out of going demigod.

[Raven Darkholme]

Even tho I haven't tested it with ticks I'm quite certain least unstablke coil won't work with those.

I used it quite a bit with chanter and it doesn't work with Eld Nary for example, it appears the hits have to be in very short succession and any kind of delay in damage stops the coils effect.

The build you made for Aloth is quite nice but for a lot of endgame requirements it doesn't do much more than simply casting brilliant on a priest (with a cipher).

Still very nice find for sure.

[AndreaColombo]

23 hours ago, Raven Darkholme said:

The build you made for Aloth is quite nice but for a lot of endgame requirements it doesn't do much more than simply casting brilliant on a priest (with a cipher).

On the plus side, if you get tired of the "mandatory Cipher" shtick, with this build you can finally ditch it and still get the SoT spam thing going.

You could also export a character with all the necessary gear, then hire them as a mercenary to give Aloth the stuff right away. As soon as he unlocks the Missile Salvo, ka-boom: No more "mandatory Cipher"

[Manveru123]

Are you running your builds together in a party? Because that sounds like it would be cool. Just missing Eder and Watcher now

[Ascaloth]

46 minutes ago, Manveru123 said:

Are you running your builds together in a party? Because that sounds like it would be cool. Just missing Eder and Watcher now

I actually switch all the Companions and Sidekicks in and out of the party depending on which encounters I feel they will contribute most in. Part of it is also me testing as many build ideas as I can, in the hope I can eventually manage to come up with one good build for each of then.

The build I've posted this year are those I feel I've already perfected with my old Fate Testarossa and Cunning Duelist saves, and I'm going to start a new playthrough to polish up the builds for the rest.

Eder is actually one of the tougher ones; guy is Ol' Reliable, but I've yet to figure out something that can actually make him pop. Was testing a Riposte build the last two times, but it's not super exciting even if it works... maybe I'll try something else in the new run

[Raven Darkholme]

15 hours ago, AndreaColombo said:

On the plus side, if you get tired of the "mandatory Cipher" shtick, with this build you can finally ditch it and still get the SoT spam thing going.

You could also export a character with all the necessary gear, then hire them as a mercenary to give Aloth the stuff right away. As soon as he unlocks the Missile Salvo, ka-boom: No more "mandatory Cipher"

Well there is still other ways besides cipher, but I don't want to derail this thread any further, once again great find and great build.

[Manveru123]

3 hours ago, Ascaloth said:

I actually switch all the Companions and Sidekicks in and out of the party depending on which encounters I feel they will contribute most in. Part of it is also me testing as many build ideas as I can, in the hope I can eventually manage to come up with one good build for each of then.

The build I've posted this year are those I feel I've already perfected with my old Fate Testarossa and Cunning Duelist saves, and I'm going to start a new playthrough to polish up the builds for the rest.

Eder is actually one of the tougher ones; guy is Ol' Reliable, but I've yet to figure out something that can actually make him pop. Was testing a Riposte build the last two times, but it's not super exciting even if it works... maybe I'll try something else in the new run

This is a fantastic build for Eder (at least it used to be, no idea if anything changed:

 

[Ascaloth]

1 minute ago, Manveru123 said:

This is a fantastic build for Eder (at least it used to be, no idea if anything changed:

 

Well, I appreciate it. But I should probably be clearer as to what I meant; when I said I was looking for a good build for Eder, I meant one that was entirely mine, crafted by myself. 

[Manveru123]

2 hours ago, Ascaloth said:

Well, I appreciate it. But I should probably be clearer as to what I meant; when I said I was looking for a good build for Eder, I meant one that was entirely mine, crafted by myself. 

I understand of course, just wanted to show someone else's approach which might inspire you

[Seccirsin]

Interesting build. 
The only downside being it's very late and you won't be able to enjoy it as much.

[Boeroer]

Right. Although I find SC Wizard pretty enjoyable even without any special gear I must say.  

[Ascaloth]

7 hours ago, Seccirsin said:

Interesting build. 
The only downside being it's very late and you won't be able to enjoy it as much.

True, sadly. That said, it does still prove its worth in four of the hardest fights in the entire game. 

[L4wlight]

A spell that I tend to use with Least Unstable Coil is Concelhaut's Crushing Doom. Didn't know Missile Salvo works too, because I seldomly play single class wizards.

[dgray62]

This looks like a great build, Ascaloth. I look forward to trying it with a Watcher, as I find Aloth's personality to be a bit tiring in Deadfire. For a Watcher, what "better-optimised Races and Attributes" would you recommend? Would the +1 power level of a Nature Godlike throughout the game be worth missing out on The Mask of the Weyc at the end of the game?

[Ascaloth]

5 hours ago, dgray62 said:

This looks like a great build, Ascaloth. I look forward to trying it with a Watcher, as I find Aloth's personality to be a bit tiring in Deadfire. For a Watcher, what "better-optimised Races and Attributes" would you recommend? Would the +1 power level of a Nature Godlike throughout the game be worth missing out on The Mask of the Weyc at the end of the game?

Hmm, didn't really think about it as I figured that what would be "better-optimized" would be up to the player, but sure. Off the top of my head...

Yes, the obvious choice would be Nature Godlike, and you can go Old Vailia as the Culture so that you can take 20 INT to keep the demigod mode going as long as possible (doesn't matter so much once you can spam Salvation of Time and Wall of Draining, but you know). Push MIG up as far as you can go too, for the damage. Raise PER as much as you can, it'll help at lower levels even if it stops mattering once you have the upgraded Weyc's Wand.

Dump RES, it does nothing for you. And CON too, if you're feeling brave.

While forgoing the Mask won't break this build, it does give Concentration. So I hope you have an alternative way to get that at the start of the encounter, because nothing's worse than wasting an Empowered Missile Salvo to an interrupt.

[dgray62]

Thanks for the feedback, Ascaloth. I suppose if one went with Nature Godlike one could get concentration by casting Spirit Shield. But I think I'll play this with Aloth as intended, and give him another chance.

[dgray62]

I'm in the early stages of a run with this build, with Aloth currently at 7th level. I am trying to get a sense of what would be the best equipment and spell set up until reaching the end-game Weyc gear. I was thinking of using the Grimoire of Vaprous Wizardry and Rekvu's fractured casque (and selecting spells accordingly at level up), and using a scepter or wand and Nerian's Ward. How does that sound as a mid-game equipment array? I won't be using Ningauth's Teaching with Aloth as my MC, an evoker arcane knight, will be using that grimoire. Any alternative suggestions would be appreciated; this is my first game with a single class wizard in the party. Like many newbies, I tended to initially run multi-classed parties, but I am increasingly appreciating the power of single class builds, especially in parties. That said, I do love the martial caster multi-class builds.