Building a ranged attacker just for Maje island

[Lavitage]

If you were to build a ranged attacker around the concept of "the entire game is levels 2 through 4" how would you do it?

I'm thinking ghost heart/devoted. Ranger for marked prey, ghost heart so you don't have to worry about bonded grief. Fighter for disciplined barrage, devoted for extra pen.

Max dex and per, 3 resolve, other stats whatever.

Weapon, not sure. Options that stand out to me: Hunting bow (+acc, flexible damage), scepter (1 handed, flexible damage, destructive channel), rod (flexible damage, blast)

Companion, not sure. Bear, +armor talent, have it stand behind the main tank as a 2nd line? Wolf, +damage talent, have it run at the enemy backline?

Any other ideas welcome.

[Haplok]

Maybe some kind of Streetfighter with a Blunderbuss (Powder Burns modal activates his special)? +80% Sneak damage and -50% Recovery at level 1 is tough to beat. When he's Bloodied, he even gets another +100% Crit damage.

Penetration can be an issue, though.

 

Could mix him with a monk (Helwalker for living on the edge?), ranger or even a Devoted Fighter (helps with Pen).

 

Too bad you can't get the aoe blunderbuss mortars before leaving Port Maje.

Edited August 11, 2020 by Haplok

[omgFIREBALLS]

Why max dex and not mig? The trashier your weapon, the larger a portion of your damage comes from might.

[dgray62]

If you're restricting yourself to Maje Island the weapon would have to Essence Interrupter.

[Boeroer]

I would also say that Essence Interrupter is the best option. Or an Arquebus (+modal).

I would pick an Arcane Archer/Bleak Walker (Essence Interrupter), Assassin/Tactician (Arquebus), Assassin/Bleak Walker (Arquebus) or Debonaire/Beguiler (Essence Interrupter).

Edited August 11, 2020 by Boeroer

[Scrapulous]

I might even go with a single class arcane archer so you get more base accuracy and can pick up the Marksman passive early for another 5% acc.. Arcane Archer/Bleak walker gives you the benefit of nearly twice as many special ability activations. But the advantage of Essence Interrupter on an AA is that your autoattacks hit often (+10% acc from arcane archer passive) and hard (elec damage), so I think you might not miss the additional ability activations.

But I'm a big arcane archer fan, so take this with a grain of salt. I wouldn't be able to leave the character on Maje Isle

[Boeroer]

Hm... why would you get higher base accuracy with a single class Arcane Archer?

Starting ACC is 20 for all classes.
Arcane Archer will get no bonus ACC for autoattacks with Essence Interrupter from the passive(but no malus either).
Arcane Archer's bonus ACC for imbue shots comes from the Arcana skill (and +5 base) which isn't influenced by single- vs. multiclass progression.

SC will give you Marksman  (+5 ACC - no percantages) earlier than with a multiclass - which is nice - but Flames of Devotion has +10 ACC which stacks with all other ACC bonuses. It also does nice damage.  And on top you will get Zealous Aura which will give you another +5 ACC.

 

[Lavitage]

How do you even get 12k for essence interrupter that early?

[Boeroer]

With Berath's Blessings for example.

[Scrapulous]

Hmm, for some reason I thought the accuracy bonus per level had a class modifier, but you're right, it doesn't.

Flames of Devotion is definitely great for an Arcane Archer, but my experience with it on Maje Isle was that Zeal ran out well before the big fights ended, so I was thinking that a bonus to acc that you have throughout the fight would be better. But you're right, there isn't a bonus. The only difference in acc is getting Marksman earlier as a single class AA than the Shepherd would get Zealous Focus. I haven't played the tutorial through starting at level 1 in a long time, so it depends a bit on where the levelup break points are, but I think I'm convinced that multiclass would be the better approach.

[dgray62]

I find an ascendent MC, spamming mind blades while ascended, is a great way to deal with the hordes at the dig site, and auto-attacking with essence interrupter is an easy way to ascend. If you turn in the easy Port Maje quests without companions you'll be level 4 before going to Gorecchi Street and the dig site. But of course you could start at level 4 with Berath's Blessings.