[CLASS BUILD] The Soul Sniper - Mindstalker - Solo PotD Full Playthrough with Megabosses

[Not So Clever Hound]

[CLASS BUILD] The Soul Sniper - Mindstalker - Solo PotD Full Playthrough with Megabosses

Class: Assassin/Cipher (no subclass)

Concept: Ranged glass cannon (ab)using stealth mechanics and highly synergistic skills, weapons and items to deliver high burst damage and DoT while staying in the safety of the shadows.

Game Version: Works with latest updates and DLCs as of v5.0.00040. I recommend the Full Community Patch and the No Forced Rests mod (otherwise just metagame around them, it’s fully viable but just a bit annoying).

POTD Solo: Yes. Base Game, All DLCs, All 4 Megabosses completed. Some strategies below.

Companion: Nope (really meant to play solo by definition)

Important Opening Notes:
1) This build originated from playing Kaylon’s excellent Glimmer Man Tactician/Assassin build. I reused a lot of his findings here, and other thoughts from Boeroer, Thelee and others.
2) This build will NOT work with Berath’s Challenge.
3) I would not recommend this build for a first playthrough in the Deadfire. It relies upon a niche type of gameplay that you will most enjoy if you are a returning player with some understanding of the combat mechanics of Deadfire.
4) This is a long post… bear with me, I hope it will be worth the read!

 

-----INTRO------

               

The idea of this build came to life while trying out Kaylon’s Glimmer Man build. I was really interested in a solo PotD capable ranged Assassin and Kaylon’s build was extremely appealing. As I played it up to lvl 20, I got really impressed by its potential and it turned out to be a lot more versatile than I thought. I also realized a few things along the way:

- Brilliant Tactician was very nice but maybe not that crucial, even for a full playthrough.
- Some of the drawbacks of Tactician were not optimal (lower PEN and ACC mostly)
- There were lots of synergistic Fighter skills, but some not as much (e.g. the +ACC bonus of Stances doesn't stack with Arquebus modal, Constant Recovery doesn’t do much for this build).
- Most importantly, this weapon user, high damage build could really benefit from having all 4 mythical adra stones, but Hauani o Whe can’t be reliably dealt with as Kaylon pointed out.

I decided to try something different, and the Mindstalker made sense because of class synergies (Biting Whip, Hammering Thoughts and Disintegration cost 3 skill points and are on their own very incremental/transformational to the Assassin), plus you can easily take Hauani (Disintegration + Marux Amanth), and it has a nice thematic fit. From there, I decided upon vanilla Cipher because of the lack of drawbacks and because it brought the best Whip ability for weapon damage. It’s probably debatable, but since you mostly attack with Rogue skills, you don’t consistently generate focus so you have a permanent 20% DMG increase and a 20% Raw Lash on top. Nice.

From then, the big questions was: can you complete the game, the Megabosses and the DLCs solo on PotD with a resource-intensive toon that mostly doesn’t have resource regeneration? The answer is yes.

From the heights of Vilario’s Rest down to the rectum of Wael’s Titan body, this toon performed far above my expectations. As I’ll explain in a bit, it is one of the most synergistic build I’ve played, in the sense that every skill point invested or item equipped brings something specific to the build. Nothing is wasted, even if certain skills aren’t used that often. The build can basically trivialize 95% of the game including Megabosses. It slows down a little bit in the last 5% which are the DLC fights where the game suddenly puts you in a small enclosed space with lots of respawning enemies and no way to reset the fight. Even then, you just have to slightly adapt your build and you basically turn on God Mode again. The key then is to keep your Guile for stealth and to have high Arcana to nuke everybody with AoE Scrolls (which will benefit from your bonii of attacking from stealth). I’ll detail everything below after a quick rundown of the skills and items specs.
 

 

-----SPECS------

 

Race: Wood Elf (optimal, doesn’t matter too much)

Background: The White that Wends – Hunter (doesn’t matter much)

FINAL STATS WITH ALL PERMABUFFS AND NO-REST BUFFS AS OF 5.0 (without combat buffs):

MIG 25 (18 Base +2 Berath +1 Gift from Machine +2 Alchemic Brawn +2 Hot Razor Skewers)
CON 9 (3 Base +2 Berath +2 Alchemic Brawn +2 Konstanten Boon)
DEX 22 (15 Base +1 Elf  +2 Berath +2 Alchemic Guile +2 Amira’s Blessing(?? To be investigated, apparently it has to do with the Neketaka burning house event. Never got the bonus before although getting the event 100% of time. This time I didn’t pursue the arsonists…)
PER 29 (18 Base +1 Elf +1 White that Wends +2 Berath +1 Konstanten Boon +1 Effigy: Sagani +2 Alchemic Guile +1 Savage Cunning +1 Cauldron Brew +1 Ajamuut)
INT 25 (18 Base +2 Berath +1 Konstanten Boon +2 Alchemic Wits +2 Charm of Bones)
RES 11 (3 Base +2 Berath +2 Alchemic Wits +2 Nature’s Resolve +2 Rikuhu’s Blessing)

 

ADDITIONAL PERMABUFFS:

Food: Hot Razor Skewers
Adratic Glow
All Trainings
Dawnstar Blessing
Luminous Adra Potion
Nature’s Resolve (Accuracy)
Savage Cunning (Survival)
Galawain’s Gift x3 (Acc. against beasts)

 

BERATH BLESSINGS: I am not ashamed of investing all 105 points. BUT none is required to win with this build.

 

SKILLS: I like to roll Diplomacy, Survival, Athletics, and Mechanics (and a bit of Stealth of course) over the course of the game as they enable important stat checks early on. After level 20 and once I’m in the thick of the DLC’s, a stronger focus on Arcana is very helpful and mandatory for the biggest cheesy fights.

 

----- ABILITIES ------

 

ASSASSIN
Core to the build: Crippling Strike, Fast Runner, Arms Bearer, Smoke Veil, Blinding Strike, Dirty Fighting, Two Handed, Debilitating (or Arterial) Strike, Gouging Strike, Finishing Blow, Deep Pockets, Withering Strike, Devastating Blow, Tough, Uncanny Luck, Deep Wounds, Toxic Strike, Improved Critical, Deathblows.

CIPHER
Core to the build: Whisper of Treason (just to make Krovix of the Deep your pet), Biting Whip, Hammering Thought, Disintegration.
Situational Skills: Borrowed Instinct, Empty Soul (both for Hauani), Farcasting, Rapid Casting (for end-game, Arcana heavy build).
Caution: NEVER Take Echoing Horror, it will make you come out of Stealth/Invisibility!

A Couple of Notes:
-You don’t need the Shadowing Beyond tree. Smoke Veil and the occasional Potion of Invisibility or Scroll of Withdraw are all you need in stealth. For extra mobility, you can consider the Bounding Boots with Boeroer’s tricks. Not required at all, but fun if you’re really into Arterial Strike. I prefer Debilitating Strike because I have already a lot in the DoT department, and because it enables Deathblows which can synergize with Thunderous Report.
-Backstab doesn’t fit the playtstyle of this build and is in my experience buggy with Arquebus.
-I really don’t spread much into the Cipher’s skill tree, but what I take is incredibly helpful, and then it allows me to invest heavily in the Assassin skill-intensive tree. This is synergy!

 

-----GEAR------

 

Weapon Set 1: Dragon’s Dowry, Mythic, Volatile Runelock, Serpent’s Rage.
Weapon Set 2: The Red Hand, Mythic, Double Tap, Unburdened Soul (trust me on the long run Unburdened Soul is the better choice. See notes below).
Weapon Set 3: Main Hand Fire in the Hole, Mythic, Chain Shot and Off-Hand Kitchen Stove, Mythic, Thunderous Report, Everything and Anything.
Also keep handy: Marux Amanth. And True Lover’s Kiss if you want.

Acina’s Tricorn

Charm of Bones

Devil of Caroc: whatever enchantments. With permabuffs, it gives us 12 Guile/Encounter.

Ajamuut’s Stalking Cloak: amazing!

Killer’s Gloves (keep Burglar’s Gloves and Firethrower’s gloves handy)

Ring of Focused Flames (synergizes with Dragon’s Dowry and Thunderous Report)

Ring of the Marksman (keep Kuaru’s prize handy)

Slippers of the Assassin (free stealth once per encounter when you kill your first enemy: this item is amazing!)

Sash of Judgment

Harley Dog (keep Eviee handy)

Potions and Scrolls: Invisibility, Withdraw, high level elemental and physical damage scrolls, anything that can also paralyze/ petrify.

A couple of notes:
-On the Red Hand, I initially went with Guilty Conscience. Even if it fits the idea of the build, +40% damage taken still sucks. The Red Hand doesn’t need the extra-extra 20% DMG to be awesome. Also, Guilty Conscience will make the (very) optional fight in SSS where you are turned into an Ironclad impossible to win.
-Double Tap and especially Thunderous Report are some of the most powerful, transformational weapon effects in the game. Worthy Sacrifice also, but just for one fight.
-Overall, just keep unique stuff you come across to have options, especially if you haven’t played PotD a lot. If you come across items with immunities/resistance, hold on to them. You will have more than enough money anyway.

 

-----GENERAL STRATEGIES------

 

Our Defense is dismal, and we will take a lot of damage because of our passives. Our only option is to stay hidden in the shadows, and to strike hard. Luckily we have a pretty serious and flexible offensive potential: long range single target, short range AoE, both able to apply Burst or DoT, plus afflictions that enable more damage. Lots of combos in perspective. Our ACC will routinely reach 200+ and our PEN is always above 20. So you will always crit and so you will always overpenetrate etc. Thunderous Report is usually critting at 182 ACC with 33 PEN and 400+ DMG. The arquebuses can reach higher ACC and PEN of 36 and hit for 200-300 DMG a shot – and then you can add the DoT! All in all, this build always has the PEN mechanic working in his favor, and will crit 99% of enemies 99% of the time.

BURST DAMAGE:

-Debilitating Strike: Cheap, big damage, enables Deathblows. Nice opener for Burst DMG.
-Devastating Blow: Very strong finisher on enemies with lots of health and closer to the end.
Thunderous Report: Outstanding damage in a BIG AoE cone.
-Any combination of those will obliterate most enemies. With Dragon Dowry, you can routinely do about 600 DMG on a single target with Debilitating + Devastating in a double tap.
-Debilitating Strike with Fire in the Hole immediately followed by Thunderous Report from Stealth is ridiculously strong and will result in potentially 3,000+ total AoE damage depending on the size of the crowd, in less than 5sec of combat.
-The Red Hand’s Double Tap will instakill all vessels… except Dorudugan, Concelhaut, the Fampyr’s in Splintered Reef, maybe a few others. But the other Ancient Fampyrs in their cave, the Ancient Liche Battlemage, the Ancient Deathguards, the Steel Ironclads, the Engwithan Titans… all instakillable.
-Pierce Immunes are never a problem between double tap for vessels and the lashes/additional effects, especially if using Dragon Dowry.
-Do not use Dragon Dowry on Fire immunes. All its attacks are keyworded as Fire which is on the other hand great with Ring of Focused Flames. (Also works with Thunderous Report).


OVER TIME DAMAGE:

-Gouging Strike: will prolong combat and work until the enemy is no more. Amazing.
-Toxic Strike: will increase in potency over time, scaling to incredible damage.
-Disintegration: one of the strongest single target damage spell in the game.
You can apply all 3 DoTs above to the same target. It works very well at absolutely obliterating enemies that thought they could out-heal your offense, and can speed up boss fights. We are concentrating in this build some of the stronger DoTs in the game. Sure you could also have Arterial Strike, and team up with your Priest, Paladin and Ranger buddies for a crazy DoT-fest. But you have all you need there already to make any enemy a dead man standing.
-Deep Wounds: always on, and pretty cool!

 

-----MEGABOSS/HARD FIGHTS STRATEGIES------

 

You may argue that I use very cheap tactics against those magnificent beings. But if I can’t even abuse Gouging Strike with an Assassin, then who can?

Dorudugan:
Equip upright captain belt, shoot Doru in the face with Gouging Strike, Stealth and retreat to the exact South East corner of the map (right in the corner). Come back an hour later, it’s cooked.

Belranga:
Shoot her in the face with Gouging strike, Stealth and retreat at the beginning of the map. Once she’s done, proceed to finish the remaining spiders with Thunderous Report on the biggest cluster and stealth+snipe on the stragglers.

Hauani O Whe:
Shoot it in the “face?” with Gouging Strike, then retreat to the south of the beach and chill. Once it’s at Near Death, take a +ACC potion/scroll, gulp a potion of invisibility, fire Borrowed Instinct on Hauani. Restealth and use your additional +ACC to land Disintegration (Empower ok but not necessary). Restealth, walk to Hauani and make sure it’s not moving and it’s under the effect of Disintegration. Yank it with Marux Amanth for a nice instakill.

Auranic:
It’s actually pretty easy even with this build: you need potions of invisibility, the Eviee pet, one Empower point, and do NOT damage Auranic from the beginning. Keep her for last. First, go kill the bodyguard that can charge/stun. Stealth and Thunderous Report + maybe a normal followup attack will do. This will trigger your invisibility from the boots. Go slightly south while switching to the Red Hand. Fire on the Sigil that opened (obelisk of terror) and the remaining bodyguard both with Gouging Strike. Yes, even if obelisks are pierce DMG immune they will take the hit, triggering lashes and additional effects. Drink a potion of invisibility and retreat to the entrance to chill a bit. Now you will repeat this strategy to apply Gouging Strike to all the remaining obelisks but never attack Auranic. It’s actually really easy, walk up, Auranic opens an obelisk, shoot, stealth, run away. Use potions of invisibility and replenish 6 points of Guile out of your 12 Max when needed. Once all obelisks have the Gouging Strike, wait at the entrance for their destruction. Because Auranic is still relaxed, she won’t open the obelisks unless provoked. Once they’re gone, shoot Auranic in the face with Gouging Strike from Dragon’s Dowry and retreat to the entrance. Wait until she’s done. Of note, you can use the same strategy without using the Empower points and the True Lover’s Kiss, but it’s probably very tedious.

SSS Hard Arena Fights /BoW Bridge Ablaze/FS Oratory and Oracle:
Those fights might seem impossible at first but respec to max Arcana and load up with the strongest AoE scrolls with potions of invisibility and use your Guile to stay invisible or Gouging Strike key opponents. The fights will become a cakewalk. As an Assassin, you retain your bonii from striking from stealth when you use scrolls which leads to devastating AoE strikes.

 

-----THE END------

 

Happy to read your thoughts and potential for improvement. Retrospectively, I may have underutilized the Cipher half of this toon, but at the same time this version is very effective!

Edited February 14, 2021 by Not So Clever Hound
Corrected a typo

[Not So Clever Hound]

I didn’t want to put too much content in the original post, but here is some additional roleplay fluff for the aficionados, and I know there are a few lurking around.

 

Heard at the Wild Mare during Happy Hour:

Adaryc: So Edér, as much as I love to see your scrawny face I’m surprised to meet you without your beloved Watcher!

Edér: Nice to see you too buddy. Well, the Watcher and I are still sailing together these days, but in the field he prefers to go solo. Can’t say I blame him, I don’t move as fast as I used to. He won’t say it to my face, but he’s faster and safer on his own right now.

Adaryc: So it is true what they say, about his new found “abilities”?

Edér: Pal, you don’t know the half of it… The other day, we were aboard the Defiant on our way to Dunnage, clear skies and all that crap. Next thing we know, we are being chased by a Crookspur ship, with a captain probably too stupid to understand what our flag means… so everybody scrambles to get the royal bronzers out when the Watcher tell us to stand down. He tells the crew “I’ve made some upgrades to my new toys and I want to try them out”. Then he grabs a big holster made from Mohora leather and gets some weapons out. I see an anti-materiel, incendiary long-range arquebus, a double-barreled arquebus that reeks of necromancy, a goddamn grenade launcher and then… a shotgun that looks like a blunderbuss had a baby with a flamethrower. At this point, I’m having a real bad feeling about this whole thing but the slavers are already upon us. They board, the Watcher starts shooting and then believe me friend, it was Evon Dewr all over again… As I saw the Crookspur guys explode one after the other, I came to realize that 1) Never underestimate the amount of blood and other fluids contained in a human body) and 2) never get on the wrong side of the Watcher. Because if he’s after you, he will not only find you and shoot you in the face… he will snipe your very soul into oblivion. That’s why we call him the Soul Sniper, the Shadow of Gorecci Street, the Bane of Megabosses.

Adaryc: I see… so when you say “other fluids”…

Edér: Yep, that too. Let’s just say that I was grateful to not be on deck cleaning duty on that particular day aboard the Defiant.

Pallegina: Yikes! Per complanca boys, let us change the topic of this riveting conversation.

 

[Waski]

15 minutes ago, Not So Clever Hound said:

Weapon Set 3: Main Hand Fire in the Hole

Is it obtainable in solo run?

[Not So Clever Hound]

Yes if you're flexible, no if you enable the Solo challenge. The same it true for the other hand mortar held by Serafen, because both are tied to him. You can totally make this build work with other options to go along Kitchen Stove, like the Empirical Explanation IIRC.

[Waski]

Ok, btw the other mortar is easy to get with solo challange (you can hire all companions, they will stay on ship where you can kill them for loot)

[Not So Clever Hound]

Yes true! if you like to slay feisty blue/green Ewoks on your deck for breakfast.  

Indeed, you can get one hand mortar which will fulfill the same role as Fire in the Hole. You could then get the weapon mod that increase close range damage, which would then make backstab potentially more interesting. But I wouldn't go that way especially if you take Guilty Conscience on the Red Hand. You will get a lot immediate retaliatory damage unless you stealth all the time

[Boeroer]

You can kill Serafen and loot the Hand Mortar if you enabled the solo option. Fire in the Hole: nope as @Not So Clever Houndalready said (with solo option enabled I mean).

Edit: dang, missed Waski's post which already explained. Oh well...

Edited February 14, 2021 by Boeroer

[dgray62]

This looks like a lot of fun, Not So Clever Hound. Thanks for sharing this build.

[dgray62]

Not So Clever Hound, I tried this and found it very fun, even at level one at Vilario's Rest. I had a question about your choice of no subclass cipher. I was wondering if it might make more sense to take the ascendant subclass instead. The reason I ask is you do so much damage with your alpha strike that you pretty much max out your focus right at the start. With a no subclass cipher, this turns off your soul whip, requiring you immediately use cipher powers to get back your +20% weapon damage (+30% with biting whip). This seems like a problem since you are not investing in too many powers with this build. With Ascendant, you'd start out with slightly lower bonus (+10/20%), but you'd ascend right away, so giving you an extra +20%. You'd never have to worry about the lash turning off, and with your toon's high INT you'd stay ascended for a long time. I was just wondering if you considered this. I usually prefer Ascendant so as to not have to worry about the last turning off.

[Not So Clever Hound]

Hi dgray62, thanks for your interest! Indeed at Vilario's Rest and throughout Port Maje you get a lot of flavor from this build and playstyle already. The alpha strike/ burst part is quite front-loaded (hello Gorecci Street folks). I have considered Ascendant as a strong candidate for the Cipher half but as I briefly mentioned in the build, you mostly use rogue alpha strikes from stealth which don't (consistently) generate focus. So in my experience you're better off with the vanilla Cipher, also as your alpha strikes benefit from your full 20% DMG + 20% Raw Lash right away. 

That being said I think Ascendant is a fully viable way to play this little dude. As I said my build did his job admirably in carrying me until the end but there may be a lot more interesting synergies with the core Cipher class(es) that I haven't much touched. To this toon the Cipher half was: Biting Whip, Hammering Thoughts and Disintegrate as a means to nuke Hauani before it splits and others. Oh and WoT for the occasional enemy with an Intellect affliction weakness. That's it. But I reckon it can be a lot more! Especially because some of the late DLC fights force you to be more of a would-be caster.

[dgray62]

Thanks! I noticed that the strikes from stealth seems to sometimes generate focus but often don't. This being the case, vanilla makes sense.

[Not So Clever Hound]

That way you turn the lack of (consistent) focus generation into a strength. And when you need it, you can still get all the focus you want. Remember you will have Thunderous Report later  

[dgray62]

Thanks! How do you handle large mobs early on, when you don't yet have very much guile or Kitchen Stove? 

[Not So Clever Hound]

Early on you take on enemies 1 by 1 or 2 by 2 using 1 or 2 arquebus shots to eliminate them, then use stealth to deaggro, run out of sight and reset the fight. This was my main concern when trying out The Glimmer Man originally, but it actually goes pretty quickly and enables you to break down challenging fights without taking a single point of damage (e.g. Gorecci Street, the old Druid that gives you Wise Teeth Necklace). By the end of Port Maje, you can deliver 100+ DMG per shot on crit and you can already reach an ACC > 100 with a Fine Arquebus, with lots of PEN. Then you get Gouging Strike which is basically a death sentence (it can eliminate the pierce-immune skeletons at the dig site for example).

Later on once you have more options, it is very fun to see how many enemies you can finish in one assault before resetting. It's also a good way to prepare for the few fights that you can't reset throughout the game. Regarding those, apart from the specific DLC situations that I listed in the build, nothing really required me to pause and rethink the strategy. You always have the tools to win with your resources.

[dgray62]

Thank you. I have never played in this manner. I'll try doing so. It sounds like fun!

[dgray62]

Not So Clever Hound, I'm really impressed by how powerful this build is. I have not previously played solo or a assassinate from stealth sort of build, but I am amazed by how well it works. Having just reached Neketaka, where skill checks abound, I was wondering how high you recommend that one invests in the various skills. I know that you recommend investments in Arcana, Athletics, and Mechanics, Stealth, Diplomacy & Survival, but I was wondering if you could be more specific in recommending how many points to invest in each. Having never played solo before, any advice here would be most helpful. Needless to say, I'll get visit all the trainers ASAP and will consume an Luminous Adra Potion, and will keep the various unguents and gear with skill bonus on hand. With these bonii in mind, how do you recommend investing the limited skill points available?

[Boeroer]

There's a reason why I use an Assassin/Bleak Walker as a solo mule to farm all the gear I want to export.

You can just kill anything (although in fights where you can't hide it's tricky). 

Edited February 15, 2021 by Boeroer

[dgray62]

Another good reason to go through with this build....exporting gear for future runs.

[Not So Clever Hound]

Hi @dgray62 I'm so glad you're enjoying this build! I know you've played your fair share of optimized toons in Deadfire so it's great to hear . It sounds like you've had the same kind of jaw-dropping moments that I had when a stealth attack perfectly falls into place.

As far as skills, for most of the game I think it's nice to reach (all permanent bonuses included):

13 Mechanics, so with Burglar's Gloves and occasionally Thief's Putty you can open everything in the game, including the Mechanics 18 lock in Splintered Reef that doesn't have a key. Maybe you won't open everything in Forgotten Sanctum but who cares.

Diplomacy 13 let me handle everything I wanted to handle in a diplomatic way. You have of course items and consumables if needed if you want to go further.

Something like 10-12 in Athletics and Survival. With the occasional item if needed to pass checks (Burglar Glove etc).

Stealth in total at 8 is more than enough.

When it is time to shift gears with the end game DLC fights, go crazy on Arcana. You can easily reach 22 or 24 Arcana with your skills and gear. That's a lot of PL scaling on those mean scrolls to let you dominate thos big fights .

Edited February 15, 2021 by Not So Clever Hound

[Not So Clever Hound]

43 minutes ago, Boeroer said:

You can just kill anything (although in fights where you can't hide it's tricky). 

Yep very true in late DLC fights, but you can hide and play around with your targets in so many ways.

With max Arcana and Deep Pockets, you could for instance use Withdraw 30 times, each time completely removing you from the fight for 30+ sec. Of course it's not a fun way to play and Withdraw has a dangerous recovery time, but I'm just making the point - knowing that you are the king of DoT, it's potentially OP to be able to wait around for the DoT to do its job. It is also a unique way to force stealth after casting a ticking spell like Greater Maelstrom or Meteor Shower that would break your stealth otherwise. I've also trivialized Arena fight with like 2 Earth Talon scrolls to shut down a healer and 2 Plague of Insect scrolls to eliminate their pals. I know (and appreciate) that you don't like scrolls. But it's just so good with an Assassin!

A lot of fights can also be done in a very different way if you approach with a full stealth mindset. For example, the FS Oratory fight: you can stay out of combat for a long time as long as you don't go either side where the enchanted armors are. You can stay on the bridge, withstand the oculus attacks, kill one obelisk with an arquebus, then kill the 2 mirror images that spawn on the other side, all in stealth and renewing resources. Then start the proper fight at your convenience by either going one side and kill one batch of animated armor after the other, or decide to aggro everybody by unexpectedly shooting the last obelisk still from the central bridge. Maybe it's something that everybody knows already, but I liked decomposing this fight in a very different way with this build than I had before.

[dgray62]

Thanks for the advice! Yes, I have tried many builds, but this is my first time trying a stealth build. You're right, you really can dish out jaw dropping damage when attacking from stealth on an already afflicted mob. And thanks for the explanation of how you make use of scrolls of withdrawal. I can see that it makes sense to use them after casting a ticking scroll. I was wondering why you recommended their use, and now I see why. Thanks. 

[dgray62]

I've made it to 14th level so far, just doing the essential quests to get Fire in the Hole and the Kitchen Stove. Wow, it's powerful. Assassinate strikes from stealth with Dragon's Dowry easily does 250 damage at this point, while the two hits from The Red Hand does about the same. Haven't gotten the Kitchen Stove yet but I'm on my way, stealthing through the Undercity. The vessels there don't have a chance.

I noticed a quirk with the Dragon's Dowry, however. If you use it for an alpha strike from stealth while wearing the slippers of the assassin and kill your enemy (which almost always is the case), the fire damage from the gun breaks you out of the invisibility. So it's probably not a good idea to use this gun for the alpha strike if you want to maximize assassinate opportunities for a given encounter. That said, most of the time you could just throw up a smoke cloud and sneak out of combat, so it doesn't really matter much except in difficult battles or those encounters in which sneaking away and resetting combat is not possible, such as special encounters, ship battles, and arena fights.

[Not So Clever Hound]

2 hours ago, dgray62 said:

I noticed a quirk with the Dragon's Dowry, however. If you use it for an alpha strike from stealth while wearing the slippers of the assassin and kill your enemy (which almost always is the case), the fire damage from the gun breaks you out of the invisibility

Hi @dgray62 glad you're still having fun with this build. I never had this issue and I just tested my build now against Ikorno. I can maintain stealth with Slippers of the Assassin after a kill from Dragon's Dowry (one shot or two shot). So thinking about things that could interfere... I am playing with community patch, are you? Did you take any passive that could do something funky to invisibility (e.g. my point about Echoing Horror)?

EDIT: There must be either an item or ability or game version effect that is running interference. I have extensively used this weapon with both Kaylon's Glimmer Man build and my build and it has never been an issue. Really the only time when I was going out of stealth when I wasn't planning to was because of trying out Echoing Horror.

EDIT 2: Thinking about it more: the Dragon Dowry Lash is not a separate attack roll but a lash, that is just calculated and added to your main attack just like your biting whip lash. so there is absolutely no reason it would break stealth. There is something else going on, let's find out!

EDIT 3: I just tried without the community patch and invisibility from the Slippers still triggers and is maintained.

Edited February 19, 2021 by Not So Clever Hound

[Boeroer]

If Slippers of the Assassin work differently from Smoke Veil (and more like Shadowing Beyond) then Deep Wounds might cause this. But afaik Slippers do work like Smoke Veil.

What might happen (if other enemies aren't too close) is that the kill ends combat - which automatically ends invisibility. An autopause setting might help. With it you can then stealth before enemies trigger combat again.

Edited February 19, 2021 by Boeroer

[dgray62]

When slippers of the assassin procs it procs as Shadowing Beyond, not Smoke Veil. I am using Community Patch but don't have deep wounds yet. I am not entirely sure why this is happening; it only happens with Dragon Dowry, not with any other weapon such as the Red Hand. I don't think it's due to combat ending, but I may be wrong. I'll double check. I assumed it was due to the self-damage from volatile runelock. It's not a big deal, since for most battles the extra use of invisibility isn't needed, and when it is, I can open with another weapon. Another Deadfire mystery, I suppose!