Devil of Caroc: Nightshroud+bashing shield VS Hunting Bow vs War Bow? also alpha striker

[SirMirrorcoat]

I am completely undecided about what to focus on with DoC.

I tested all 3 types I am interested in for her, and they all work really well. The 'worst' would be Nightshroud, simply for the fact that I already have Zahua, Maneha and Kana on the front. In open areas, the fourth frontliner is nice, but many fights are not that freeroam-y.
Removing Nightshroud from her would let my main priest have a 'get-out-of-trouble free card', which sounds nice, albeit I have yet to find a situation where that would have saved me...

Hunting Bow vs War Bow is a tough choice though. Would be super easy, barely an inconvenience, if Stormcaller could be bound to Rogue, but alas, nope. So far, she uses Borresaine or Persistence.
On one hand, Borresaine offers so much damage that I was able to 1shot some mage in one of the bounties in WM1, on the other hand DoC would be softcountered against enemies immune to pierce, which could be circumvented with Massuk Bow if I went the Hunting Bow route. But then again, I am not sure I would lose that much if I just went with War Bow as my main and switch to Massuk Bow if needed. Would the +6 ACC from Weapon Focus be that noticable in the long run, considering how high Rogue ACC already is? (+ 20 ACC from Devotions among others)

Or should I maybe just do a hybrid build and do both Bashing shield melee and HB/WB ranged? Or something completely different?

 

Edit: and, what is the best way to approach alpha striking?
So far, I have my melee units set up with slow ranged weapons for an initial attack, by the time the attack is finished my priest cast Devotions. and then I switch to melee for the front liners and that's it.
I thought I would be better off by now not bothering with many alpha strikers, aside maybe for DoC because of the SA bonus? Like, Molina's Arbalest for AS, then switch to HB/WB/melee depending on my chosen build?

Edited August 21, 2021 by SirMirrorcoat
forgot to add my alpha striker question...

[Boeroer]

May I interest you in a variant I played long time ago and which worked quite nicely with the Devil's stats and "armor" etc.?

Shield: Badgradr's Barricade. It's a Bashing Shield that procs Thrust of Tattered Veils every time (!) you land a crit with the bash (bash counts as an active ability and thus gains +1 ACC per char level - so it keeps having decent accuracy). The nice thing about this is that spells work with Deathblows (+100% dmg).

Main weapon: Godanstunyr or We Toki or whatever weapon causes prone or stun on crit. This will help with unlocking Deathblows on the enemy (e.g. by doing a crit with Blinding Strike: blind = first affliction, stun = second affliction -> Deathblows).

This means the Devil will be pretty sturdy because of the shield - but at the same time the offense doesn't suffer that much because Thrust of Tattered Veils will get triggered so often.

Alpha striking: arquebus most of times. Against soft targets (low DR) a blunderbuss. Don't forget a lash.  

[SirMirrorcoat]

Badgradr's Barricade+Deathbolw is the sole reason I looked at 1hand+bashing shield  just couldn't get the name on my phone...
So far I used paralyze from Aloth (DLC spells are amazing) or Stuck from Priest's Halt for triggering the second necessary affliction.

Tried hard to avoid spoilers, but as far as I can tell, all stunning/proning 1handed weapons seem to be quite late game, so only really relevant for super challenging fights and such...
We Toki has the crit+ modifier, which would be neat.
Cladhaliath seems to be the only one that's somewhat readily accessible?
Starcaller seems meh, as 'reliable' is pretty much wasted on a high ACC class?
Godanstunyr is really great for the dual damage types. Also I have a soft spot for more 'properly' sized war hammers :D

I am right in the assumption that Weapon Focus is more or less wasted on Rogue, right?

But the idea of having a crowded frontline still puts me off a little. At least in confined spaces xD
In more open spaces, it's advantageous, but in all those dungeons...
So, would 2 different setups work for her, or are melee and ranged mutually exclusive for a Rogue?
Or maybe I'll be weird and give Kana the Stormcaller and have him at mid range as to not clutter the frontline too much. He has so much reach with Dragon Thrashed anyway xD

And for alpha striking, Zahua/Maneha/Kana with Arque/Blunderbusses, and DoC with Molina's Arbalest for the chance to get instant prone/stun right at the start. Is that a good plan or would the arbalest be better on someone else and an arquebus on DoC for the higher SA damage?

[SirMirrorcoat]

Forget the Molina idea, that makes no sense, thinking about it. Alpha striking is for insta killing, not for 30% chance at debilitating for a moment....

[Boeroer]

1 hour ago, SirMirrorcoat said:

I am right in the assumption that Weapon Focus is more or less wasted on Rogue, right?

No, why should it? Accuracy is the most important stat imo. 

[SirMirrorcoat]

Yeah, makes sense, I just don't know when I will be able to take it, so far I have always had something more important xD

 

Should I give Kana a ranged or reach weapon to make my frontline less dense? I am not so sure he wouldn't suffer too much defensively... 
Or maybe Maneha with reach weapons... Uses Redeemer and The Grey Sleeper right now and is doing splendid with them.