Build advice for hard-clubbing war caller

[limaxophobiacq]

I'm kinda into the whole Huana aesthetic (using kapana taga + contenders armor + champions helm) and want to make another try at a war caller.

I was thinking Devoted/Skald to combo the devoted +2 Pen with the +5 Accuracy of clubs to deal with PotD defences, and the option of using the club modal + 'Thick Grew Their Tongues' and 'At the Sound of His Voice'  to CC and interrupt (so high int and perception). I think I should pick up 'Thrice Was She Wronged' too for when I want to focus damage and 'Called to His BIdding' for the max pharases if nothing else.

One thing is I feel like I might be spreading myself a little thin, I'm kinda going for tanking + CC + weapon damage + invocation damage + party support from chants all on one character. 

My planned abilities look like this at the moment:

1 Knock Down | Blessed was Wengridh + Thrice Was She Wronged
2 Disciplined Barrage
3 At the Sight of Their Comrades

4 Weapon and Shield Style | At the Sound of His Voice
5 Fighter Stances
6 Determination

7 Tactical Barrage | Her Revenge Swept Across the Land
8 Mule Kick
9 Ancient Memory

10 Vigorous Defense | ...And Their Fear Followed Them
11 Weapon Specialization
12 The Silver Knights

13 Armored Grace | Thick Grew Their Tongues
14 Superior Deflection
15 Mob Stance

16 Clear Out | They Shielded Their Eyes
17 Refreshing Defense
18 Unbending

19 Unbreakable | Called to his Bidding
20 Unbending Shield

I'd like to get in more resistance chants (One Dozen Stood/Seven Men) and Aefyllath in since they can come in pretty handy but I'm unsure what to drop. I also feel like I might run out of discipline pretty fast if I use all my fighter abilities but all of them feel like they have their place.

[dgray62]

I wouldn't recommend taking ancient memory. The healing it provides is very negligible, and your fighter already has great healing with constant recovery and unbending. The  ...And Their Fear Followed Them upgrade also isn't worth it IMO. Instead, I'd recommend that you get Reny Daret's Ghost and the upgrade Ben Fidel's neck, which frightens for much longer and debuffs all defenses. It's a much better invocation.

[Jayd]

You won't do a huge amount of weapon damage with this. Weapon+Shield style is slow and clubs have low base damage. Your weapon damage will definitely be eclipsed by Her Revenge alone. Her Revenge is good and since you're a Fighter who will move in to get surrounded, Seven Nights can deal out big damage. The key to making a guy/gal like this shine would be to leverage their tankiness to invite aggro, get up in enemies' faces, and smash them up with those close range invocations. That, at least, is the synergy that strikes me.

I'd get rid of Ancient Memory for Seven Nights and Unbreakable for Her Tears Fell (never much liked on-death effects - if the character is good you shouldn't be using it). @dgray62 is right about Ancient Memory. You won't notice it with your other healing.

I disagree with dgray about Ben Fidel being better than Killers/And Their Fear. As a Skald, Ben Fidel costs 50% more resource than Killers. Big deal because Skalds chain invocations quickly. Comparing them 1 to 1, you can cast Killers three times with the resources it takes to cast Ben Fidel twice. With high INT (you'll have with Tactical Barrage and investment) the hard CC from Paralysis lasts a solid time, and debuffs the enemies for both Her Revenge and Seven Nights. The Frighten is very much worth it in my opinion - shutting off enemies' dangerous abilities is great, their power level is lowered, their will, deflection, and resistance to hostile effects are lowered. And you can chain between paralysing them and frightening them.

The point of being a Skald is to cast invocations a lot, and casting an invocation resets your chant progression. For this reason, Skalds don't get to benefit from many chants too often. Getting rid of AM, you still have three, which is fine, but you might find yourself barely benefiting from one or two. Also, I don't think Weapon Specialization will do much because, as I said, I don't see you doing much weapon damage. You'll use the weapon to debuff and farm crits for phrases.

So, if it were me, I'd take out weapons specialization and/or a chant and put in Their Champion braved the Horde Alone and/or Charge. Energized can be awesome, and I personally like to play Fighters by Charging into the middle of enemies from stealth (your choice to see if you like this - this character might prefer to have enemies start closing in before paralysing them and then dismantling them).

Hope this is helpful and not too far from your original vision. Just finishing up a Skald playthrough now myself.

Edited April 1, 2021 by Jayd

[dgray62]

1 hour ago, Jayd said:

I disagree with dgray about Ben Fidel being better than Killers/And Their Fear. As a Skald, Ben Fidel costs 50% more resource than Killers. Big deal because Skalds chain invocations quickly. Comparing them 1 to 1, you can cast Killers three times with the resources it takes to cast Ben Fidel twice. 

Just for clarification, I agree with you completely, @Jayd. I would never suggest that one not get Killers. I always pick this talent whenever I play a skald. But I was suggesting that the upgrade isn't worth it. But that is a debatable point. I like Ben Fidel for the -10 to all defenses combined with the frightened affliction. I use Killers all the time for mobs, and typically save Ben Fidel for the tougher foes.

[Boeroer]

I also never take the Killers upgrade but will often pick Ben Fidel's Neck because its debuff stacks with all single defense debuffs. Which is great against some tough nuts. Also there's some enemies with immunity/resistance against DEX affliction - then Ben Fidel's Neck is a nice alternative because there is no resistance/immunity against it.

Edited April 5, 2021 by Boeroer

[limaxophobiacq]

Thanks for the suggestions. Gonna drop the ancient memory + Weapon Specialization, throw in Ben Fidel's Neck and maybe change from Devoted to Unbroken to focus a bit more on the tanking.

Would it be reasonable to drop Called to His Bidding to get in Her Tears Fell or is the lower starting phrases too much?

Edited April 5, 2021 by limaxophobiacq

[Boeroer]

Keep in mind that the invocation with the highest cost will also determine your max phrase count (or in other words: the size of your resource pool).
As a Skald that means: if you pick up "Called to His Bidding" (6+1 phrases) you will have a max phrase count of 7, if you instead pick up "Her Tears Fell Like Rain" (5-1) your max phrase count will be 4 (assuming you haven't picked up any other costly invocations before).

So "Called to His Bidding" may be very expensive compared to "Her Tears" - but at the same time it can function as a "resource pool expansion" while still being a good invocation to have (even if expensive). Yet... "Her Tears" is still useful in certain circumstances so maybe plan to pick up both? It depends on your playstyle though. If you find yourself surrounded a lot then "Her Tears" is good. If you mainly shout at groups in front of you I very much prefer "Her Revenge" though (the cost-benefit ration is better I believe - with cost I not only mean the phrases you pay but also the ability points you spend).