SC Troubadour and mastering the art of Interrupt

[Not So Clever Hound]

Hi everyone,

So I'm definitely very late to the party on this and I'm ready to own it - just wanted to share some fun if that can give anyone ideas .

After many contributors here mentioned how much they love the Chanter's "Thick Grew Their Tongue" Chant coupled with "Their Champion" Invocation to get a straight-forward, outstanding AoE perma-Interrupt toon, I wanted to tinker with it on a solo SC Troubadour.

My idea was simple and built upon some know synergies:

• Wield Sacha's Scimitar, later dual wield with The Weyc's Wand
• Just literally sing one chant: "Thick Grew Their  D... errr, Tongue" with Brisk Recitation On
• Cast Empowered "Far From Defeated" (the upgrade from "Their Champion") at the beginning of the encounter
• Now, we're removing Concentration and Interrupting everyone with Energized in a huge AoE every 3 sec AND...
• Between Sacha's Scimitar "Refreshing Finale" and the "Far From Defeated" perks, we get 6 phrases back instantly
• So we follow up immediately with "They Did Sing a Song" or "Eld Nary's Curse" or "Her Tears Felt Like Rain" or the good ol' "Her Revenge" x2 depending on the situation
• If we are dual-wielding The Weyc's Wand, with "Attuned Channel" everything we're doing at this point is at +3PL

This works really well, more or less from level 11 on (!), but requires a bit more work and art in Solo Upscaled PotD to be something that I want to continue on a full solo playthrough. However, oh boy... in a party this is outstanding. The "Interrupt everyone every 3s" loop is a bit too tight Solo to guarantee invulnerability against big, tough crowds. But when you have a team to spread out incoming attacks, it is very good. And after that, you have all the usual Chanter awesomeness and versatility on top.

Happy to hear if you have other thoughts. Cheers!

Edited October 17, 2021 by Not So Clever Hound

[Exanos]

Well, for a chanter xhat i love to do once i have empowered an invocation with the scimitar is casting  Eld Nary and immediately after swap weapon for the soulbound arquebuse which give 1 phrase back for each kill.

So :

-> you empower Far from defeated with the saber -> 6 phrase back

-> you cast EldNary with the arquebuse (swap after the invoc is launched so you can have a more tanky setup before: saber/shield) -> usually phrase are resplenished in no time

-> cast second EldNary or dragon invocation -> phase keep stacking cause of first EldNary

-> rince and repeat

In my party my chanter is by far first dps and have nearly no downtime. Only issue : Spell reflection form caster will kill you...

EDIT : Strat 2 : Get the mod allowing you to pick stormspeaker subclass. Empower avenging storm, shoot with mortar, get all phrase back immediately, cast far from defeated, shott with mortar -> get all phrase back, etc.... (Haven't tried it recently but it worked great not so long ago, don't know if it was patched or no)

Edited October 17, 2021 by Exanos

[dgray62]

Thanks, Not So Clever Hound. It should be noted that you could achieve the same with a MC chanter. You'd miss out on Far from Defeated, but this wouldn't matter too much, as you could use abilities from your other class during the down time while you recharge phrases. A troubadour/blood mage seems like a particularly good combination. I like the idea of continually interrupting foes while bashing them with alternating invocations and spells.

[Not So Clever Hound]

Thanks @Exanos for the tip about Blightheart.

Thanks @dgray62, indeed Energized with overlapping Chill Fogs and Freezing Pillars together with the repeating chant (and of course Eld Nary) would create so many interrupts that it would likely prevent anyone from doing anything will turning the area into a total killzone.

Edited October 18, 2021 by Not So Clever Hound

[Kaylon]

15 hours ago, Not So Clever Hound said:

After many contributors here mentioned how much they love the Chanter's "Thick Grew Their Tongue" Chant coupled with "Their Champion" Invocation to get a straight-forward, outstanding AoE perma-Interrupt toon, I wanted to tinker with it on a solo SC Troubadour.

I wasn't aware about this combo and I'm not sure I understand... Energized interrupts only crits, how could "Thick Grew Their Tongue" interrupt when it can't event crit?

[Not So Clever Hound]

11 minutes ago, Kaylon said:

Energized interrupts only crits, how could "Thick Grew Their Tongue" interrupt when it can't event crit?

Thick Grew Their Tongue can crit thus proccing the Energized Interrupt. With a high ACC toon it will crit often since it targets Will.

[Not So Clever Hound]

[Boeroer]

Why wouldn't it be able to crit in the first place? I thought the only thing that does a hit roll and can't crit is Carnage...?

[Kaylon]

2 hours ago, Boeroer said:

Why wouldn't it be able to crit in the first place? I thought the only thing that does a hit roll and can't crit is Carnage...?

I thought it was auto hit...

[thelee]

Just in case you hadn' seen it, druid is a great MC for this because druid has tons of spells that proc a lot (wizard has a bunch too, but things like venombloom or nature's terror proc multiple times per tick).

 

i would also recommend bombs and helm of the white void with an SC chanter. then you could use the "long night" chant at +10 acc which helps land the crits, and bombs give you a parallel way to crit and interrupt (some bombs trigger hazard effects that proc repeatedly for potentially more crits)

Edited October 18, 2021 by thelee

[dgray62]

14 hours ago, Not So Clever Hound said:

Thanks @dgray62, indeed Energized with overlapping Chill Fogs and Freezing Pillars together with the repeating chant (and of course Eld Nary) would create so many interrupts that it would likely prevent anyone from doing anything will turning the area into a total killzone.

Wow, this sounds like a lot of fun. I love chanters but I never really tried to maximize interrupts. The chanter/wizard would be fun, but I'm tempted to try chanter/cipher for another CC heavy build. But of course with SC chanter you'll get energized much more quickly! Decisions, decisions.....

[Boeroer]

Iirc if you add Spirit Frenzy to a Troubadour's Brisk Recitation (while Energized) you can get two hit rolls every three secs for potential crits/interrupts.

Afaik both rolls will profit from the Helm of the White Void if you combine The Long Night's Drink with Spirit Frenzy. And this combo also lowers fortitude even more for more future crits.

Of course you'll override Frenzy's strong inspiration with energized

For me the advantage over a chanter/caster combo like chanter/druid (just speaking about interrupts via energized) is that both rolls happen passively: you don't need to "sacrifice" any action time since the chant + stagger rolls happen on the fly.

You can add fast invocations then (again double roll) - like Ben Fidel + Spirit Frenzy. No AoE pulsing besides Brisk Recitation unfortunately.

If you have the time to cast some pulsing spells: that will pay off, too - of course. Completely different action economy though.

 

Edited October 19, 2021 by Boeroer

[Not So Clever Hound]

29 minutes ago, Boeroer said:

29 minutes ago, Boeroer said:

Iirc if you add Spirit Frenzy to a Troubadour's Brisk Recitation (while Energized) you can get two hit rolls every three secs for potential crits/interrupts.

Afaik both rolls will profit from the Helm of the White Void if you combine The Long Night's Drink with Spirit Frenzy. And this combo also lowers fortitude even more for more future crits.

Of course you'll override Frenzy's strong inspiration with energized

For me the advantage over a chanter/caster combo like chanter/druid (just speaking about interrupts via energized) is that both rolls happen passively: you don't need to "sacrifice" any action time since the chant + stagger rolls happen on the fly.

You can add fast invocations then (again double roll) - like Ben Fidel + Spirit Frenzy. No AoE pulsing besides Brisk Recitation unfortunately.

 

That's a great point, and for a Chanter/Barb Interrupter, you could also sacrifice the Berserker goodies to go Furyshaper and cast the Fear Ward for more pulsing Interrupt chances right?

Of course a Chanter/Zerker murdering their own skeletons on an industrial level with on-kill weapon effects is probably still a much stronger Howler... but that could be an interesting take on the Howler that is thematically strong (an insane screaming dude making so much noise that it constantly interrupts and terrifies enemies) and can work solo and in a party.

Edited October 19, 2021 by Not So Clever Hound

[Boeroer]

Wards - like other summons and Walls - are separate entities and unfortunately don't profit from your energized inspiration. But of course once enemies get crit by a Fear Ward you don't need to interrupt them anymore anyway. So yes, Furyshaper is a great pick imo, especially in combo with Helm of the White Void and Ben Fidel's Neck (the helm won't help the Ward, but it makes it so easy to hit with Ben Fidel which lowers Will by 10 bc. of frightened and then another 10 because of the upgrade which stacks). The Fear Ward has rather bad ACC. If it doesn't crit it can't terrify enemies with solid RES long enough - so all will debuffs do help a lot.

An energized Berzerker/Skald with Many Lives + Blightheart and Blood Thirst - spamming Her Revenge - will interrupt most enemies in range all the time due to muktihit attack + no recovery and only 0.5 sec casting time PLUS chant and stagger procs. But he will do not much else than casting Her Revenge (can get quite boring - but also easy to script). Also it's worth debating whether the interrupts have any impact or not because enemies will die from Her Revenge so quickly...

Edited October 19, 2021 by Boeroer

[Not So Clever Hound]

1 hour ago, Boeroer said:

Wards - like other summons and Walls - are separate entities and unfortunately don't profit from your energized inspiration.

Of course (facepalm) thanks for correcting me. Nice idea about the Zerker/Skald!

The Furyshaper/Troubadour could team up with the Blood Mage/Troubadour. BM would bring Miasma to the table, plus the Ryngrim spells and several pulsing AoEs. Since we're there, they could also team up with the Druid/Troubadour for more pulsing AoEs... and everybody keeps chanting Thick Grew Their Tongue on Brisk Recitation, being like:

 

 

Edited October 19, 2021 by Not So Clever Hound

[dgray62]

I'd recommend Corpse Eater/Skald. As Boeroer mentioned you don't need Zerker since you'll get energized from the chanter side. The nice thing about Corpse Eater is if you eat Forbidden Flesh Pie you'll get a PL boost to your barb abilities. I presume that this would boost spirit frenzy's accuracy and make you more likely to crit/interrupt with it, right? Or is there no attack roll for spirit frenzy's staggered effect? I must admit I'm not sure how this is implemented in the game. At the very least, the frenzy effect would last longer.

[Boeroer]

You need Berserker's Confusion in order to kill your own skeletons with your "Her Revenge" cone though. That will trigger Blood Thirst - as well as giving you a phrase per skeleton kill which in turn lets you repeat the invocation again right away. Without Berserker Confusion it takes a lot longer - at least against tougher enemies who don't drop dead from one use of Her Revenge. It also lets you gain phrases against single tough enemies very quickly. 

[dgray62]

In that case, Berserker/skald makes the most sense! I didn't think of using the skellies as fodder. But as in the case of your confused Zerker/devoted wielding Amra, you'd have to keep your companions out of the cone of death!

[thelee]

something I just discovered--don't know if this is common knowledge--that may be useful here, is azure blade.

 

you can enchant it to have a 25% chance to interrupt if you have enough allies nearby, in addition to +10 accuracy. what I discovered is that this chance to interrupt affects anything, not just the stiletto attack. I actually ended up interrupting some enemies with the debuff portion of Devotions for the Faithful, which is how i discovered this. So if you have summons or can keep some friends close by, this will help your non-crits interrupt as well.

[Boeroer]

Wow @thelee, that's news to me.

[dgray62]

It only works when the foe has no allies nearby, right? If so, it would work best against bosses, when you'd really need the interrupts.....just have to clear out the minions first.

[thelee]

52 minutes ago, dgray62 said:

It only works when the foe has no allies nearby, right? If so, it would work best against bosses, when you'd really need the interrupts.....just have to clear out the minions first.

i actually don't think so. the accuracy bonus seems to be ignored on that limitation, and the fight where this happened was the hasongo fight where there's two naga inside a building trying to break in - it's pretty cramped quarters and i actually interrupted them both with a single devotions. needs more testing probably but i haven't had the time yet.

[Not So Clever Hound]

6 hours ago, thelee said:

i actually don't think so. the accuracy bonus seems to be ignored on that limitation, and the fight where this happened was the hasongo fight where there's two naga inside a building trying to break in - it's pretty cramped quarters and i actually interrupted them both with a single devotions. needs more testing probably but i haven't had the time yet.

Interesting find @thelee! So the wiki description would seem to be partially incorrect then:

"For clarification, the upgrade "Wrong Place, Wrong Time" applies the accuracy bonus regardless of the enemy ally count. Only the interrupt chance bonus is dependent on both there being 3 or more player allies within 2m of the wielder, as well as zero enemy allies within 2m of the target."

Or maybe could your Devotions have possibly Crit? Since those Naga's don't have a high Will... I tried to test but didn't manage to replicate what you noticed.

[thelee]

9 hours ago, Not So Clever Hound said:

Interesting find @thelee! So the wiki description would seem to be partially incorrect then:

"For clarification, the upgrade "Wrong Place, Wrong Time" applies the accuracy bonus regardless of the enemy ally count. Only the interrupt chance bonus is dependent on both there being 3 or more player allies within 2m of the wielder, as well as zero enemy allies within 2m of the target."

Or maybe could your Devotions have possibly Crit? Since those Naga's don't have a high Will... I tried to test but didn't manage to replicate what you noticed.

yeah i tried a bit (not extensively) last night and could not replicate it. probability being what it is, i can't say for certain (was just playing, not testing, so i still need to carve out some time to do it), but i wonder if something else happened that got conflated with the devotions cast. or maybe the naga were just far enough away despite the cramped quarters.

[Not So Clever Hound]

Since we're on the topic of unique weapon effects, it is probably common knowledge but I only realized now that Lover's Quarry from Lover's Embrace (33% chance to apply Frenzy on Crit) applies to all Crits, not only weapon attacks. This is really good because basically any AoE caster can reliably proc it every fight. Every caster can benefit from the various buffs but I'm thinking Druids will benefit disproportionately from Action Speed due to their relative lack of speed buff and long casting times.

Edited October 21, 2021 by Not So Clever Hound