Failed my first triple crown attempt. I want to play a fanatic in my next try and need some info on friendly fire

[Ouroboros226]

What appeals to me so much with a fanatic - is that you have both an offensive and defensive on kill effect. So that you buff not only yourself, but your entire party's defenses on kill. I also like the juxtaposition of extreme offense and extreme defense. Plan is bleak walker / zerker. 

What I need help/info with is this. How is the friendly fire carnage in mid/late game? I've read some people say that it destroys your own party too. And I've read some people saying that it isn't so bad and you can ignore it. I was thinking of running armor+heal aura to mitigate the berserk self damage, along with voidward. I'm also planning for my only melee to be my tank and me. 

Thing is if a rogue drops into my backline and I need to go help them, will the carnage friendly fire be a huge liability? Just how dangerous is berserker friendly fire mid/late? I was considering just avoiding all this by playing a ranged fanatic, but there are just so many juicy passives you miss out on. The issue of having to wait until lvl10 to get the aura due to confusion I just have to deal with.

 

[Boeroer]

Subclass:
Imo Steel Garrote is better than Bleak Walker in this case. With Spirit Frenzy you'll stagger automatically and thus the life drain of the Steel Garrote is always active basically, countering the self damage of the Berserker "on the fly" without the need to stop hitting. Even Kind Wayfarer would be better in my book (also heals himself with Flames of Devotion). The bit of extra damage for Flames and Devotion is not that important in a triple crown run imo, especially since Zeal is rather limited.

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Self Damage/damage mitigation:
Voidward and other sources of dmg reduction (e.g. Death's Maw) are a good idea. 

A Paladin/Berserker can reach pretty great AR with the several passives and inspirations (Thick Skinned, Stoic Steel, Inspired Defenses, Hardy...) - Zealous Endurance won't stack with Hardy - but the self heal from Exalted Endurance might still be worth it (never tried though). And he can always counter self damage with Lay on Hands - which is neat.

Fanatic also usually reaches very high Fortitude (+20 from Tenacious/Hardy and more from the Paladin's Faith and Devotion and whatnot) besides having access to good defense passives in the first place. 

Inspiring Triumph (+12 to all defenses) also applies to the Fanatic himself by the way. 

A Fanatic with the Berserker can achieve near immunity to most afflictions because the Paladin has several resistance passives and the Berserker has Unflinching which - in combnation with self damage and healing, can remove afflictions entirely. This can be important in TC runs because often it's the hard CC that will screw you.

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Friendly Fire:
Confusion is bad with AoE dmg or debuffs if you are near party members (Carnage, Sacred Immolation, Inpired Beacon etc.). And auras (e.g. Exalted Endurance) and other kind of passive effects (Inspired Defenses) are especially bad because they will also apply to enemies. You could circumvent that with really low INT - but... meh.   

It is easy for a Fanatic to eliminate Berserker confusion though - because the Paladin can get a resistance against INT afflictions as passive ability. That will remove confusion from your character altogether at all times. You can also spare the point (or avoid confusion early) and either use Svef (drug), Luminous Lobster (food) or wear Devil of Caroc Breastplate (nice anyway) with the "Mechanical Mind" enchantment. You could also use swords and get Modwyr . It makes you not only resistant but completely immune to INT afflictions. If you want to be more free with your consumables and items just pick the passive then. You can always counter confusion with any INT inspiration. So for example a Priest can cast Prayer for the Spirit on the confused Fanatic to remove the confusion.

 

Edited September 9, 2021 by Boeroer

[Ouroboros226]

Thank you Boeroer I wish I could give you two hearts some times. I was planning on dual wield or two hander, but do you think one handed weapon only could actually be better? +12 ACC and... 20%?.. hit to crit  (I think) would be safer and more reliable on tc?   

I imagine missing several attacks in a row in tc can be extremely dangerous, as you are planning your moves in battle around... well... actually hitting stuff. And barb slam and barb in general doesn't have any good +acc. 

[Boeroer]

Using a one handed weapon can be benefical in the early game - but in most situations it's inferior to dual wielding or a two handed weapon later on.

An imo very nice and underrated thing is miss to graze conversion. Some weapons have it (the Willbreaker and the Sanguine Great Sword for example) and there's also Gauntlets of Greater Reliability. Both sources stack (as conversions do - not additively, but still nice). You can even eat some food for more miss to graze conversion.

Miss to graze lets you apply debuffs and CC to enemies you wouldn't even be able to hit otherwise and then open a door for more reliable hitting. Example: you have Brute Force and are wielding a Morning Star + Body Blows. The enemy has 120 deflection and 120 fortitude and your ACC is too low to even graze under normal circumstances. But you have a cumulated ~50% miss to graze conversion with your melee attacks. Now with ever second swing of the Morning Star you will apply Body Blows which lowers fortitude by 25 points. Now you are attacking 95 fortitude instead of 120 deflection. Stuff like that. 

After all miss to graze means that you turn nothing into something no matter how bad your acc is compared to the enemies' defenses. Of course it doesn't to much if your ACC is great compared to enemies' defenses. But those fights you'll win anyway...

Edited September 9, 2021 by Boeroer

[Ouroboros226]

3 hours ago, Boeroer said:

Using a one handed weapon can be benefical in the early game - but in most situations it's inferior to dual wielding or a two handed weapon later on.

An imo very nice and underrated thing is miss to graze conversion. Some weapons have it (the Willbreaker and the Sanguine Great Sword for example) and there's also Gauntlets of Greater Reliability. Both sources stack (as conversions do - not additively, but still nice). You can even eat some food for more miss to graze conversion.

Miss to graze lets you apply debuffs and CC to enemies you wouldn't even be able to hit otherwise and then open a door for more reliable hitting. Example: you have Brute Force and are wielding a Morning Star + Body Blows. The enemy has 120 deflection and 120 fortitude and your ACC is too low to even graze under normal circumstances. But you have a cumulated ~50% miss to graze conversion with your melee attacks. Now with ever second swing of the Morning Star you will apply Body Blows which lowers fortitude by 25 points. Now you are attacking 95 fortitude instead of 120 deflection. Stuff like that. 

After all miss to graze means that you turn nothing into something no matter how bad your acc is compared to the enemies' defenses. Of course it doesn't to much if your ACC is great compared to enemies' defenses. But those fights you'll win anyway...

This is great, didn't think about this. In particular, it is fantastic for Herald. With herald support healer, you dump perception to the bottom anyway. Using your advice above makes it even better. Now debilitating modals can be thrown in and things like the AOE raw damage chant from lvl1 always being useful.