Help with Build/Character Selection

[helmino]

Heya guys! I want to start my run and i need some advice from you!

I really like swashbuckler but since i already have Eder and i like have im around i want to have a different MC.

My run will be veteran upscaled on critical path (mobs dont give more experience after you complete your journal entry right? else i may want all upscaled), with a party, so mostly doable with anything.

So im having some ideas and related questions: 

1) Shadowdnacer, Nazpalca/Trickster. Will the tanky part of trickster go against monks wound generation idea? Can i use Sabres or Swords and be effective without using fists?

2) Inquisitor, Darcozzi(hate to be an **** as Bleakwalker)/(Soulblade or Ascendant?). Sworn Enemy can be set to cast to enemy your MC attack with AI? Is better to DW or 2h for soul Annihilation?

3) Warcaller Devoted/(Skald or Bellower?), Or Harbringer (no idea wich sublcass is best here) This will be good at offtank with all the heal regeneration chant? Focusing on AoE paralyzation or AoE damage chant.

4) Battlemage Devoted/(Bloodmage or Other?) With Citzal, focused on buff and melt. Maybe having all buff up can be too micro intensive?

5) Single class Ascendant, How much is effective?

6) Single class Bellower, How Much is effective?

Mostly will play ranged only the single class ascendant, everything else will be melee with Sabre. Do you have any thoughts on the best damage one of this classes? Can all of this be good for megabosses?

Thank you all in advance, sorry for so many questions, and for my bad English!

Edited March 18, 2021 by helmino

[Boeroer]

1 hour ago, helmino said:

1) Shadowdnacer, Nazpalca/Trickster. Will the tanky part of trickster go against monks wound generation idea? Can i use Sabres or Swords and be effective without using fists?

Since Nalpasca Monks gain wounds from drugs and since you can also use Mortification of the Soul and/or Enduring Dance it's not a big problem.
You can also wear Hylea's Talons (gloves) which can be obtained quite early. They have a chance of putting a little DamageOverTime on you which helps generating wounds (this does not remove Mirrored Images and also doesn't remove Enduring Dance/Dance of Death).

As in PoE1 you can use whatever weapon you want and be effective. There's no mechanic that makes weapons less viable than fists.

2 hours ago, helmino said:

2) Inquisitor, Darcozzi(hate to be an **** as Bleakwalker)/(Soulblade or Ascendant?). Sworn Enemy can be set to cast to enemy your MC attack with AI? Is better to DW or 2h for soul Annihilation?

AI: I believe so. For Soul Annihilation it doesn't really matter whether you dual wield or use a two hander. With a single handed weapon however you will miss less often with Soul Annihilation. Misses with Soul Annihilation are a bit frustrating because you'll lose all your focus but deal 0 damage.  Just pick what you like best I'd say.
Two particular weapons are quite nice for Soul Annihilation:
Whsipers of the Endless Paths - because first of all it has a cone AoE and with Soul Annihilation you'll apply raw damage in that AoE (and the sum of the raw dmg is higher than your focus), secondly it has Offensive Parry which is neat because a Paladin/Cipher can actually have pretty high deflection. If enemies miss against you in melee you will retaliate and this gives focus(!). So you can gain focus while parrying and then use that focus for your offensive stuff. 
Sun & Moon: it hits twice with every attack. This means you'll have a better chance to not miss. Also, when the first attack roll hits and dumps all the focus into raw damage, the secons attack roll already regains focus which is convenient.

2 hours ago, helmino said:

3) Warcaller Devoted/(Skald or Bellower?), Or Harbringer (no idea wich sublcass is best here) This will be good at offtank with all the heal regeneration chant? Focusing on AoE paralyzation or AoE damage chant.

Skald profits quite a bit from Fighters' Disciplined Strikes. Devoted also profits from crits especially - so my pick would be Skald. Here again Sun&Moon is a good weapon because 2 attack rolls per attack means 2 chances to land a crit an regain phrases. But everything that attack quickly and has high ACC works well. Killers Froze Stiff is great with a Skald because it's so cheap for him - and the hit-to-crit conversion paralyzed enemies suffer from is ideal for Skald. And that stacks with Disciplined Strikes - so crits are very common.

Offtanking is no problem with a Fighter/Chanter.

I'm not a big fan of Rogue/Chanter because I don't see as many synergies there.

2 hours ago, helmino said:

4) Battlemage Devoted/(Bloodmage or Other?) With Citzal, focused on buff and melt. Maybe having all buff up can be too micro intensive?

  You can set the AI up to cast all buffs at the start of combat for you. Citzal's Spirit Lance + Clear Out is brutal. Also Unbending + Wall of Draining makes you basically immortal. Bloodmage is the best wizard subclass for melee multiclassing imo. 

2 hours ago, helmino said:

5) Single class Ascendant, How much is effective?

How much? Don't know. It's pretty good though. For most players it's just a little too boring for most of the game I guess. But using Shared Nightmare + Time Parasite + Amplified Wave when ascended is def. a killer combo.

2 hours ago, helmino said:

6) Single class Bellower, How Much is effective?

Same as SC Ascendant basically: It's a bit plain during the mid game - but later on you get to the really good stuff. For example Eld Nary's Curse + Sasha's Singing Scimitar + Empower is really powerful with a Bellower and you can pull it off every encounter. Also Bellowers get really long durations with their summons so that's a viable strategy, too. But Eld Nary's Curse is just bonkers with all those power levels.

[helmino]

5 minutes ago, Boeroer said:

Since Nalpasca Monks gain wounds from drugs and since you can also use Mortification of the Soul and/or Enduring Dance it's not a big problem.
You can also wear Hylea's Talons (gloves) which can be obtained quite early. They have a chance of putting a little DamageOverTime on you which helps generating wounds (this does not remove Mirrored Images and also doesn't remove Enduring Dance/Dance of Death).

As in PoE1 you can use whatever weapon you want and be effective. There's no mechanic that makes weapons less viable than fists.

AI: I believe so. For Soul Annihilation it doesn't really matter whether you dual wield or use a two hander. With a single handed weapon however you will miss less often with Soul Annihilation. Misses with Soul Annihilation are a bit frustrating because you'll lose all your focus but deal 0 damage.  Just pick what you like best I'd say.
Two particular weapons are quite nice for Soul Annihilation:
Whsipers of the Endless Paths - because first of all it has a cone AoE and with Soul Annihilation you'll apply raw damage in that AoE (and the sum of the raw dmg is higher than your focus), secondly it has Offensive Parry which is neat because a Paladin/Cipher can actually have pretty high deflection. If enemies miss against you in melee you will retaliate and this gives focus(!). So you can gain focus while parrying and then use that focus for your offensive stuff. 
Sun & Moon: it hits twice with every attack. This means you'll have a better chance to not miss. Also, when the first attack roll hits and dumps all the focus into raw damage, the secons attack roll already regains focus which is convenient.

Skald profits quite a bit from Fighters' Disciplined Strikes. Devoted also profits from crits especially - so my pick would be Skald. Here again Sun&Moon is a good weapon because 2 attack rolls per attack means 2 chances to land a crit an regain phrases. But everything that attack quickly and has high ACC works well. Killers Froze Stiff is great with a Skald because it's so cheap for him - and the hit-to-crit conversion paralyzed enemies suffer from is ideal for Skald. And that stacks with Disciplined Strikes - so crits are very common.

Offtanking is no problem with a Fighter/Chanter.

I'm not a big fan of Rogue/Chanter because I don't see as many synergies there.

  You can set the AI up to cast all buffs at the start of combat for you. Citzal's Spirit Lance + Clear Out is brutal. Also Unbending + Wall of Draining makes you basically immortal. Bloodmage is the best wizard subclass for melee multiclassing imo. 

How much? Don't know. It's pretty good though. For most players it's just a little too boring for most of the game I guess. But using Shared Nightmare + Time Parasite + Amplified Wave when ascended is def. a killer combo.

Same as SC Ascendant basically: It's a bit plain during the mid game - but later on you get to the really good stuff. For example Eld Nary's Curse + Sasha's Singing Scimitar + Empower is really powerful with a Bellower and you can pull it off every encounter. Also Bellowers get really long durations with their summons so that's a viable strategy, too. But Eld Nary's Curse is just bonkers with all those power levels.

Thanks for the input! For the Shadowdancer I wrote wrong, Helwaker is what i will pick in that case, thats why i asked if trickster will be a problem for wounds!

[Exanos]

Hello,

1. Napazalca/trickster will work fine cause drug will generate wound passively. Fists will be better in early, and sabers/sword will be better when you unlock unique and upgrade them (fists are better when you pill up +PL wich will not be the case here)
2. Both cipher work, question is how you wznt to play. Ascendant want to stop melee and cast spell when ascended, and soulblade want to pill up focus for heavy melee (you can still cast spell though )
3. Warcaller and harbringer can off tank well, i will go the skald way for cheap invoc and bonus phrase on crit
4. Bloodmage or no subclass will be my pick. You can easily config ia for autobuff, so its not an hassle.
5. Very. To the point it can start being boring  . A bit less effective on megaboss cause you need to hit and damage to get ascended. If you have a priest with salvation on time you can enter godmod.
6. Very. I play it as a nucker. Use sascha singing scimitar to empower eld nary, swap to  blightheart arquebuse (get phrase back on kill). Recast. Usually everything is dead. 

 

Edit: ninja boeroer is in the place

Edited March 18, 2021 by Exanos

[helmino]

9 minutes ago, Exanos said:

Hello,

1. Napazalca/trickster will work fine cause drug will generate wound passively. Fists will be better in early, and sabers/sword will be better when you unlock unique and upgrade them (fists are better when you pill up +PL wich will not be the case here)
2. Both cipher work, question is how you wznt to play. Ascendant want to stop melee and cast spell when ascended, and soulblade want to pill up focus for heavy melee (you can still cast spell though )
3. Warcaller and harbringer can off tank well, i will go the skald way for cheap invoc and bonus phrase on crit
4. Bloodmage or no subclass will be my pick. You can easily config ia for autobuff, so its not an hassle.
5. Very. To the point it can start being boring  . A bit less effective on megaboss cause you need to hit and damage to get ascended. If you have a priest with salvation on time you can enter godmod.
6. Very. I play it as a nucker. Use sascha singing scimitar to empower eld nary, swap to  blightheart arquebuse (get phrase back on kill). Recast. Usually everything is dead. 

 

Edit: ninja boeroer is in the place

Thanks for your Input too! As i said up, I wrote wrong, Helwaker is what i will pick in first class scenario. Will still be good? I think that rogue monk will have amazing damage, but will be squishier than chanter devoted i suppose

[Exanos]

8 minutes ago, helmino said:

Thanks for your Input too! As i said up, I wrote wrong, Helwaker is what i will pick in first class scenario. Will still be good? I think that rogue monk will have amazing damage, but will be squishier than chanter devoted i suppose

It can work cause you can still generate wound passively with an ability, and you can wait to be hit before casting trickster defensive spells, it will be more of a glass canon except if you invest heavily on RES and deviation stuff. If you want a very hard hitting glass canon, try hellwalker assassin and lvl up arcana. Duald wield sun and moon with sungrazer. You will hit really hard from stealth, can clear room from stealth with some hight lvl scroll (maelstrom for the win). Very dynamic multiclass with lot of way to fight (melee, ranged, scroll...). Need heavy micromanagement.

Chanter/devoted will be way more sturdy. With some items and lvl, you can grind through any fight (except megaboss). 

Edited March 18, 2021 by Exanos

[helmino]

Ye, im undecided, i like to dish out damage, but i have to be alive to do damage, thats the true problem. Shadowdancer seems really cool, but maybe in the end warcaller or inquisior can do more damage by remaining alive?

[Exanos]

17 minutes ago, helmino said:

Ye, im undecided, i like to dish out damage, but i have to be alive to do damage, thats the true problem. Shadowdancer seems really cool, but maybe in the end warcaller or inquisior can do more damage by remaining alive?

the thing is, it's not that hard to stay alive if you can crowd control efficiently (have a tank with lot of engage go first is the easiest) shadow dancer can use stealth and invisibility to stay alive and strike when the time is fine. I don't see them as constant damage dealer but as burster

Edited March 18, 2021 by Exanos

[Jayd]

26 minutes ago, helmino said:

Ye, im undecided, i like to dish out damage, but i have to be alive to do damage, thats the true problem. Shadowdancer seems really cool, but maybe in the end warcaller or inquisior can do more damage by remaining alive?

As @Exanos said, there are ways to stay alive as a squishy character. The big difference between tanky and squishy is, in my opinion, the playstyle possibilities they unlock. Fighters can almost always charge right into a group of enemies and survive while pelting out damage toe-to-toe. Rogues and other squishies need to rely on other characters taking up attention, or on crowd control abilities. Basically, you have to prevent enemies from focusing on them for the most part.

So the question isn't really how long you want the character to stay alive but how you want to play them. Generally, you will be able to get more damage output out of a squishy character, but you will be forced to play them less aggressively than a sturdier character (and aggressive playing is fun, I think). So it's up to you what to prioritize.

Edited March 18, 2021 by Jayd

[Exanos]

if you want a very versatile character, try a shifter/XXX (replace XXX by any martial class). Bear form give lot of tankiness (huge universal armor) that you can combine with pala or barbarian bonus AR. Cat form is very nice with monk or rogue for attack speed. Boar form just shred boss or huge health pool ennemy with the RAW dot. 

You can heal, cast dot, cast burst spell, cc (don't underestimate druid cc power), deal heavy melee damage or tank depending of the situation. All in one.

[Haplok]

15 hours ago, helmino said:

Ye, im undecided, i like to dish out damage, but i have to be alive to do damage, thats the true problem. Shadowdancer seems really cool, but maybe in the end warcaller or inquisior can do more damage by remaining alive?

I greatly enjoyed a Forbidden Fist / Trickster Shadowdancer. Way more tanky then a Hellwalker, doesn't need to be hit to gain wounds. Has a very potent 0-cost attack/debuff move since level 1. A bit slower in Wound generation initially... but you mostly end up spamming Stunning Surge (Mortification resource, often refunded), Forbidden Fist (max Resolve and eat Hostile Effect time reducing food to allow for maximum spammage) and rogue active abilities (mainly Confounding Blind to make hits/crits even easier and Toxic Strike on tougher enemies - very potent combined with FF Enfeeble). And once you have Parting Sorrow, you also generate wounds when you kill an enemy (very often!).

Edited March 19, 2021 by Haplok

[Jayd]

22 minutes ago, Haplok said:

I greatly enjoyed a Forbidden Fist / Trickster Shadowdancer. Way more tanky then a Hellwalker, doesn't need to be hit to gain wounds. Has a very potent 0-cost attack/debuff move since level 1. A bit slower in Wound generation initially... but you mostly end up spamming Stunning Surge (Mortification resource, often refunded), Forbidden Fist (max Resolve and eat Hostile Effect time reducing food to allow for maximum spammage) and rogue active abilities (mainly Confounding Blind to make hits/crits even easier and Toxic Strike on tougher enemies - very potent combined with FF Enfeeble). And once you have Parting Sorrow, you also generate wounds when you kill an enemy (very often!).

I was thinking about a build like this recently. Parting Sorrow (and nasty disengagement attacks) will also trigger a lot from terrified enemies due to Ryngrim's Repulsive Visage, right? Did you use Tuotilo's Palm to go in on the tankiness?

[Boeroer]

59 minutes ago, Jayd said:

I was thinking about a build like this recently. Parting Sorrow (and nasty disengagement attacks) will also trigger a lot from terrified enemies due to Ryngrim's Repulsive Visage, right?

Right.

It's even better with more egagement slots (= more disengagement = more wounds + more disengagment attacks) - so make sure to pick Persistent Distraction and pick up some gear that raises engagement (e.g. shield, spear + modal, Kapana Taga, Reckless Briandine, Ring of the Clenched Muscle, Blackened Plate helmet and so on) or let a Priest cast Champion's Boon onto you or whatever.

Keep in mind that you need at least 1 engagement slot to profit from Parting Sorrow (also on kill). No engagement = no wound. Means Debonaire and ranged wepons won't work with Parting Sorrow at all.

Edited March 19, 2021 by Boeroer

[helmino]

Decided to go for an offtank MC with chanter as one of the classes. Do you think that troubadour can compete with skald for this? I like the idea of having 2 chant with 20 int, but scared for the +1 phrase, is that good the brisk to have phrases?

Anyway, im going for paladin or fighter as the second class, paladin will have 0 aoe and better single target, while fighter have plenty of aoe right?

But maybe chanter cna cover the aoe damage weakness of paladin?

ps: can you suggest me Builds for either fighter chanter and paladin chanter please? 

Thank you all in advance!

Edited March 19, 2021 by helmino

[Boeroer]

32 minutes ago, helmino said:

Decided to go for an offtank MC with chanter as one of the classes. Do you think that troubadour can compete with skald for this? I like the idea of having 2 chant with 20 int, but scared for the +1 phrase, is that good the brisk to have phrases?

Looking at chanter subclasses in general I think most here agree that Troubadour is the most universally useful subclass. It can do it all very well. If you want to focus on invocations then activate Brisk Recitation. If you want overlapping phrases then don't activate Brisk Recitation. 

Skald is nice if you want to mostly focus on offensive invocations AND expect to crit a lot with melee weapons. You can achieve overlapping phrases witgh a Skald as well if you max INT, stack some INT gear and food and become smart.

39 minutes ago, helmino said:

Anyway, im going for paladin or fighter as the second class, paladin will have 0 aoe and better single target, while fighter have plenty of aoe right?

If you mean AoE damage: multiclass Paladin has Sacred Immolation and multiclass Fighter has Clear Out. Not really "plenty" but something's there. Multiclass Paladin also has the Beacon "tree" which is AoE cc/debuff.

Kind Wayfarer/Troubadour with Ancient Memory + Exalted Endurance + White Flames is a very effective offtank who can keep the whole party healthy passively while doing good CC (e.g. Killers Froze Stiff) and damage (Her Revenge, Flames of Devotion). Because defenses will be good and regeneration and AR can be very high you can savely use dual wielding when offtanking. I'd suggest dual sabres. One of them should be Sasha's Singing Scimitar so that you can use Empower once per encounter which is fun imo. Second sabre can be St. Drogga's Skull until you find something you like better (e.g. Scordeo's Edge). There's plenty of unique sabres. Backup weapon could be something with a different damage type, I'd suggest crush damage. So maces, clubs or flails. You can also mix sabre with swords or whatever. 

If Fighter I would pick Devoted/Skald. I'd use Disciplined Strikes for more crits and cast Killers - and then attack the paralyzed enemies for great phrases generation. I'd use Sun & Moon + Sungrazer as main weapon set and Rännig's Wrath + Pukestabber as  backup set and go for good attack speed yet good AR with Two Weapon Style, Devil of Caroc Breastplate + Abraham pet + Armored Grace. 

   

 

 

[helmino]

13 minutes ago, Boeroer said:

Looking at chanter subclasses in general I think most here agree that Troubadour is the most universally useful subclass. It can do it all very well. If you want to focus on invocations then activate Brisk Recitation. If you want overlapping phrases then don't activate Brisk Recitation. 

Skald is nice if you want to mostly focus on offensive invocations AND expect to crit a lot with melee weapons. You can achieve overlapping phrases witgh a Skald as well if you max INT, stack some INT gear and food and become smart.

If you mean AoE damage: multiclass Paladin has Sacred Immolation and multiclass Fighter has Clear Out. Not really "plenty" but something's there. Multiclass Paladin also has the Beacon "tree" which is AoE cc/debuff.

Kind Wayfarer/Troubadour with Ancient Memory + Exalted Endurance + White Flames is a very effective offtank who can keep the whole party healthy passively while doing good CC (e.g. Killers Froze Stiff) and damage (Her Revenge, Flames of Devotion). Because defenses will be good and regeneration and AR can be very high you can savely use dual wielding when offtanking. I'd suggest dual sabres. One of them should be Sasha's Singing Scimitar so that you can use Empower once per encounter which is fun imo. Second sabre can be St. Drogga's Skull until you find something you like better (e.g. Scordeo's Edge). There's plenty of unique sabres. Backup weapon could be something with a different damage type, I'd suggest crush damage. So maces, clubs or flails. You can also mix sabre with swords or whatever. 

If Fighter I would pick Devoted/Skald. I'd use Disciplined Strikes for more crits and cast Killers - and then attack the paralyzed enemies for great phrases generation. I'd use Sun & Moon + Sungrazer as main weapon set and Rännig's Wrath + Pukestabber as  backup set and go for good attack speed yet good AR with Two Weapon Style, Devil of Caroc Breastplate + Abraham pet + Armored Grace. 

   

 

 

Thanks a lot! Fantastic builds!

[Haplok]

3 hours ago, Jayd said:

I was thinking about a build like this recently. Parting Sorrow (and nasty disengagement attacks) will also trigger a lot from terrified enemies due to Ryngrim's Repulsive Visage, right? Did you use Tuotilo's Palm to go in on the tankiness?

That was my idea, sort of. But in practice the disengagement attacks didn't trigger that often (even when I changed my equipment to have more engagement slots). Thing is, my experience has been that the enemies usually "cower" and only run away sometimes. This rarely triggers bonus attack. Repulsive Visage is a very good defensive tool, but not a great counterattack one, I thought. I had more ripostes due to misses. I even tried to build for disengagement bonus Deflection, to maybe intentionally trigger those misses, but that also didn't work great. Moving around, trying to provoke was wasting time that could be spent rapidly butchering enemies outright.

Just as well, as I enjoyed a more mobile and aggressive playstyle more. Escape and eventually Flagellant's Path traverse the battlefield blazing fast and you end up simply melting the enemies. 

Early on I did use Tuotilo's Palm a little, but soon I've gave up on it. Enemies could rarely do serious harm trough the defensive buffs and Repulsive Visage and damage was much better with a 2nd weapon.

Edited March 19, 2021 by Haplok

[NotDumbEnough]

Personally, I think Skald is 90% about the cheaper offensive invocations and only 10% about the melee crits for phrases. I wouldn't avoid Skald, if, say, I only wanted to use ranged weapons, or my attack speed or accuracy was not oriented towards producing lots of crits. That said, perhaps Skalds are better as multiclass chanters. They do get penalties for summoning invocations, which is the primary way Chanters contribute to boss fights at higher levels (Her Tears Fell Like Rain and Eld Nary are not particularly useful against single targets, though they do have a useful reflex-targeting finisher invocation).

[Jayd]

7 minutes ago, NotDumbEnough said:

(Her Tears Fell Like Rain and Eld Nary are not particularly useful against single targets, though they do have a useful reflex-targeting finisher invocation).

Eld Nary, sure, but single targets is where Her Tears shines. By hitting a single enemy with three lines you can easily get >300 burst damage per cast, and a Skald can cast it pretty frequently. Not world-beating but good damage. I agree with everything else you say. Crits are icing.

[Boeroer]

Right. Skald with Blightheart is very good although it doesn't get any phrases from crits. But +1 phrase from kill (no matter how you kill) is often half the cost of his offensive invocations (e.g. Her Revenge). But don't underestimate the power of the crits.  If you build around it (by using high ACC, crit conversion and most importantly high attack speed) you can produce so many phrases that you can't even spend them fast enough. At least against enemies with non-stellar defenses. A Skald/Streetfighter with Pukestabber + Marux Amanth, Miscreant's Leahter, Blackblade's Hood, Two Weapon Style and Confounding Blind, using Killers invocation to paralyze and then using his dagger will swim in phrases as well as deal great weapon dmg AND be rel. sturdy with Mith Fyr + Old Siec. It's fun to play. 

Actually I will use summons with a Skald. Partly because your max phrase count depends on your most costly invocation. And since Ancient Instruments of Death are very good but also quite costly for a Skald they have two purposes: first of all just be awesome summons of course - but also set the max phrase counter to 7 (6 normally +1 for Skald).

You don't have to summon them in every fight, but when summons wohld really make things easier for you (like in boss fights or with tons of enemies) you can use them.

For the aforementioned Streetfighter/Skald I will use the upgraded Whisps because they will make me superfast if I use them to fire at myself (only if I'm not flanked by enememies of course). 

So Skald + summons isn't that wild imo. 

 

Edited March 19, 2021 by Boeroer

[Not So Clever Hound]

3 hours ago, Haplok said:

That was my idea, sort of. But in practice the disengagement attacks didn't trigger that often (even when I changed my equipment to have more engagement slots). Thing is, my experience has been that the enemies usually "cower" and only run away sometimes. This rarely triggers bonus attack. Repulsive Visage is a very good defensive tool, but not a great counterattack one, I thought.

I'm totally with you on this. With Persistent Distraction, Deathblows, lots of engagement slots AND the right timing when you cast Ryngrim's, you can of course watch the chunks fly on disengagement  but this is more a situational cherry on the cake than a game-changing offensive skill. Ryngrim's is fantastic on its own due to its defensive potential. You can notably cheese a lot of ship-to-ship boarding encounters solo this way (not that they're particularly challenging anyway).

EDIT: if only Overbearing Guard wasn't Fighter-specific and/or if there were more active ways to trigger enemy disengagement. I think it has been said before many times but the offensive potential of the disengagement mechanic somewhat feels like a missed opportunity.

Edited March 19, 2021 by Not So Clever Hound

[thelee]

Quote

6) Single class Bellower, How Much is effective?

Mostly will play ranged only the single class ascendant, everything else will be melee with Sabre. Do you have any thoughts on the best damage one of this classes? Can all of this be good for megabosses?

I ran a SC bellower and it was A+.

It's not just the offensive chants that get nicely boosted (the lightning bolt one does amazing work, especially when upgraded), but even the buffs and summons.

Plus, a single class chanter can get the Dragon summon at tier 9. A bellower (or a troubadour with brisk recitation) can get 100% uptime on that dragon. That dragon alone can carry you through all the megaboss fights: against dorudugan is immune to fire and can block your party members from being sucked in by Dorudugan's magnetic attack, can face tank Belranga and Hauane O Whe, and can absorb all of Sigilmaster Auranic's magic while you wait it out to take out the totems.

 

Quote

Personally, I think Skald is 90% about the cheaper offensive invocations and only 10% about the melee crits for phrases. I wouldn't avoid Skald, if, say, I only wanted to use ranged weapons, or my attack speed or accuracy was not oriented towards producing lots of crits

I mostly agree but think this mix changes throughout the game. Early on, getting 2-phrase invocations is wonderful. Later on, regular crits can keep a steady supply of more powerful (even non-offensive) invocations.

[Not So Clever Hound]

@helmino your only path is clearly to go fighter/cleric and hope that the Most Noble Order of the Radiant Heart has a branch in Eora. And that Carsomyr has also made the inter-dimensional trip and eased its class restrictions. And stop trying to romance everybody! 

[helmino]

1 hour ago, Not So Clever Hound said:

@helmino your only path is clearly to go fighter/cleric and hope that the Most Noble Order of the Radiant Heart has a branch in Eora. And that Carsomyr has also made the inter-dimensional trip and eased its class restrictions. And stop trying to romance everybody! 

HAHAHAHA, "Righteousness shall prevail!"

[Exanos]

1 hour ago, Not So Clever Hound said:

@helmino your only path is clearly to go fighter/cleric and hope that the Most Noble Order of the Radiant Heart has a branch in Eora. And that Carsomyr has also made the inter-dimensional trip and eased its class restrictions. And stop trying to romance everybody! 

Anomen, get out of this body!