Dyxx Posted December 15, 2021 Share Posted December 15, 2021 Hello guys ! I'm back to PoE 2 after a long time. I trying to figure out which MC to play and whom to pick as companions. I'm thorn between: Fighter/Chanter: Offtankish with good options for cc and creating good pressure. As subclasses possibly Tactician/Troubadour, Devoted/Skald Rogue/Cipher: Offtank with selfbuff potential via psychovamp shield, phantom foe, ...subclasses could be Trickster/Beguiler Fighter/Paladin: Offtank, Devoted or Tactician, Paladin idk Rogue/Chanter: Offtank, CC&DmgTrickster and Troubadour So I'm in for a "tanky" melee but can't decide which one. Every single multiclass is playable in the end. For my party I want a diverse composition of classes/multiclass and I like supports like Paladins, Chanter, Priests, Druids,... and so on. It's hard to find a good composition of companions to cover all those classes with multi and single classes.... I like Vatnir, Ydwin, Eder, Aloth, Tekehu, the laughing Skaldboy. But I can't set them in order properly to get most classes covered in a good manner and get a MC in the end I want to play. Maybe someone has a good idea ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Constentin Lévine Posted December 15, 2021 Share Posted December 15, 2021 Rogue/cipher is fun to play, and after lvl13 with Borrowed Instinct it is fairly tanky ass well accurate, giving more chance to crit with Ryngrim' repulsive visage (great defensive spell in melee) for exemple. Rogue/Chanter get also a big arsenal to disable ennemies, and unlock Deathblow with facility (persistent distraction and The long night combined). Phrases are just refreshed slowy than cipher focus. But as melee, I suppose you want to use weapons more than spells, in this case these one are great backup solution! I'm using a fighter/chanter only to chain-kill my skeletons, otherwise for my concern, fighter and paladin are suffering from the lack of fun-play. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Not So Clever Hound Posted December 15, 2021 Share Posted December 15, 2021 1 hour ago, Constentin Lévine said: persistent distraction Persistent Distraction alone unlocks Deathblows, right? Because all PER afflictions cause Flanked on top. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boeroer Posted December 15, 2021 Share Posted December 15, 2021 (edited) Yes. Unlike PoE, in Deadfire Persistant Distraction is enough to unlock Deathblows - if enemies are not resistant/immune to DEX afflictions, not immune to engagement (Fleet Feet or Alacrity for example) and if you can engage (see MIG afflictions, Grog pet, game options or Debonaire passive). Edited December 15, 2021 by Boeroer 2 Deadfire Community Patch: Nexus Mods Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
masterty66 Posted December 15, 2021 Share Posted December 15, 2021 Since you're going for an off tank type role I'd suggest adding a main tank character to go along with that. Eder as a Fighter/Rogue with Kapana Taga and Cadhu Scalth + all the engagement talents and heaviest armor you can give him is a real solid tank. You can spec Pallegina the same way though. I currently use as a Crusader with the same setup and it works well. The difference between her and Eder is she doesn't have stuff like Riposte and Persistence Distraction (these are both real nice on tanky Eder). However, she does offer better party support via lay on hands and inspiring beacon and the auras and things. Pallegina as a Herald is great support too but she won't have the engagement slots then so if you do that she's more of an off tank at that point. Beyond that you can go whichever way you want with your companions and it should work fine. I really do recommend having a main tank on Potd though because having someone to soak up all the engagements can really help protect your backline. One tip I'd suggest as well is to give everyone large shield model and carry a large shield/hatchet (or other 1h) as a backup setup. On fights where enemies are teeing off on you with guns or ranged weapons that can be an initial life saver until you get things under control. The Torkar bounty fight in Dunnage for example is brutal if you don't start it off with large shield + modal on as those gunners will just rip your softer party members apart. But with that modal you can absorb the initial volleys and then get things under control. Such a setup also works really well on ship boarding fights where there's a ton of ranged enemies. You don't have to stick with it on all the time - just to survive those initial volleys. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thelee Posted December 15, 2021 Share Posted December 15, 2021 (edited) 6 hours ago, Dyxx said: Fighter/Chanter: Offtankish with good options for cc and creating good pressure. As subclasses possibly Tactician/Troubadour, Devoted/Skald i would suggest this, you can do your own spin on a solid fighter/chanter (with tactician you may have lots of excessive song generation at which point i recommend giving bellower a try) and i find that the obsidian-created chanters are mostly a bit underwhelming for off-tanking for various reasons (konstanten has terrible intellect, tekehu doesn't get summons, vatnir comes late and is a bit squishy and only has squishy multiclasses, the latter is true for fassina, pallegina is ok but has mediocre intellect [though ultimately saved by being able to be herald]). Edited December 15, 2021 by thelee 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MaxQuest Posted December 15, 2021 Share Posted December 15, 2021 (edited) 8 hours ago, Dyxx said: I'm thorn between: Fighter/Chanter: Offtankish with good options for cc and creating good pressure. As subclasses possibly Tactician/Troubadour, Devoted/Skald Tactician/Troubadour is an interesting choice because with Brilliant and Brisk Recitation you will get phrases count tangibly faster and will be spending a lot of time on casting invocations. Slightly slower would be going for Tactician/Belower, but you will get a PL boost. But I don't remember Damage over Time invocations available for a multi-classed chanter; so the benefit from Belower's PL would be very marginal. Devoted/Skald - has the problem of Devoted running out of Discipline; After that it becomes as if you had lvl 15 chanter/0, compared to a level 20 single class chanter. Yes you have higher PEN with weapons, but if the plan is to cast a lot, that that benefit is mushy. Between these options I would recommend: Tactician/Troubadour: if you plan focus on high-cost invocations, and gonna use both offensive and supportive. Tactician/Skald: if you plan to use mostly offensive invocations; and especially if like lower-cost ones. Note: you might want to maximize the melee hit count per second here. Clear Out with WotEP again a bunch of enemies is great here. Alternatively you could go rapier (with modal on, in main hand) and dagger in offhand; these go well with full attacks 8 hours ago, Dyxx said: Rogue/Cipher: Offtank with selfbuff potential via psychovamp shield, phantom foe, ...subclasses could be Trickster/Beguiler Mindstalkers like multi-classing with rogue for access to strong full attacks, and thus generate huge chunks of focus. This especially benefits ascendants, as they get to ascended state faster, and while they are spamming powers their guile is conserved for later. Trickster/Beguiler doesn't appear similarly efficient to me. I would recommend: either looking for Tactician/Trickster if you need those Vissage, Gaze of Adragan and long staying power or going single class Beguiler, if you need a lot of spam for cc powers and Phantom Foes. or going single class Ascendant, if you want to capitalize on higher-costed powers; and have a priest with Salvation of Time in party or going Assassin/Ascendant or Streetfighter/Ascendant, if you want to deal a lot of damage via AoE powers; but can live without Driving Echoes and 1000 Cuts 8 hours ago, Dyxx said: Fighter/Paladin: Offtank, Devoted or Tactician, Paladin idk Tactician / Kind Wayfarer with dual-wielding setup is a great heal battery. But it's mostly great if you have party members nearby. Aside from that I don't see much greatness here. 8 hours ago, Dyxx said: Rogue/Chanter: Offtank, CC&DmgTrickster and Troubadour Trickster/Chanter can be a fun crowd-controller. He will be of great use for majority of fights. But might feel a bit lackluster vs enemies with 4k+ hp because he will run out of guile. --------------------- I think before choosing MC, you will have to decide what do you want him to do: deal damage? crowd-control? cast occasional buffs? And what do you find more fun for MC? how flexible you want him to be? do you have a cipher in party that will be casting Phantom Foes and potentially Ancestor's Memory (for longer fights)? do you need Driving Echoes and 1000 cuts? will you take a priest? (because of Salvation of Time) 8 hours ago, Dyxx said: I like Vatnir, Ydwin, Eder, Aloth, Tekehu, the laughing Skaldboy. That said, how about?: melee MC: tactician/skald melee tactician/trickster: Eder, never running of Repulsive Visages, Gaze of Adragan, Unbending, and having access to Enfeeble and Confounding Blind ranged single-class priest, or melee tactician/priest (if you don't use nerfed Brilliant): Xoti, later on Vatnir ranged single-class ascendant: Ydwin. Cipher is needed for Phantom Foes to trigger tactician's Brilliant. Plus she will get access to 1000 Cuts, Driving Echoes, Time Parasite, Shared Nightmare (great for AoE powers and weapons); and will have her Ascended state extended by priest and last slot going to Tekehu (watershaper or tactician/watershaper) or Pallegina (tactician / kind wayfarer) Note: some of proposed companion subclasses are non-standard, and would require modding. Edited December 15, 2021 by MaxQuest 2 PoE1 useful stuff: attack speed calculator, unofficial patch mod, attack speed mechanics, dot mechanics, modals exclusivity rules PoE2 useful stuff: community patch, attack speed mechanics, enemy AR and defenses Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thelee Posted December 15, 2021 Share Posted December 15, 2021 1 hour ago, MaxQuest said: But I don't remember Damage over Time invocations available for a multi-classed chanter; so the benefit from Belower's PL would be very marginal. bellower PL bonus is very good, even for early phrase invocations. when i had a SC bellower they were actually party damage leader for a huge chunk of the game. esp on PotD, you can have extremely non-linear outcomes where the extra PL digs you out of underpenetration thresholds, on top of the multiplicative damage bonuses and accuracy bonuses and debuff durations. (and even if less optimal, getting extra duration on buffs or summons can be useful; mostly for high-level summons where only troubadours and bellowers can consistently get 100% uptime) troubadour is overall solid, but bellower is still very effective. with ez brilliant at your disposal, the benefit of the troubadour becomes more marginal. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boeroer Posted December 15, 2021 Share Posted December 15, 2021 2 hours ago, MaxQuest said: Tactician/Belower sounds under-whelming 1 Deadfire Community Patch: Nexus Mods Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dyxx Posted December 16, 2021 Author Share Posted December 16, 2021 Thanks for all those replys ! Very interesting and informative input from everyone. I've toyed around with Trickster/Beguiler and I have noticed that it's not the combination I want as my mc, it just dosnt feel that good in the early game for me. I have the feeling I need to be a bit more sturdy to brawl things out. I'm going for the Tactician/Chanter route for this playthrough. It's a multiclass I have in mind since ages. I like the idea of having infinite resources and pressure through different cc possibilitys. Also its interesting, in theory, to go melee and cast invocations/summons. I'm not going the supportive route here but more cc/dmg. So for my chanter I'm not set yet to a multiclass but Belower, Skald or Troubadour sound the most appealing to me. Troubadour is a safe bet, nothing to do wrong and could be very nice for lingering chants. Skald is excellent with Wotep for phrase generation is crits and lower offensive Invocation cost. But is the phrase generation through crits reliable constant ? Belower is a option I didn't mind till now, but sounds interesting and like a power house throught its unique PL mechanic, phrase generation through brilliant should/could be fine. Maybe this even gives balance between use of both classes. Does the PL bonus apply to fighter skills and how long does the PL bonus last ? For my group I favor: SC Priest Xoti-> Vatnir SC Cipher Serafen or Ydwin Swashbuckler Eder Last slot Tekehu/Fassina/ Aloth Maybe I'm going without mage Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boeroer Posted December 16, 2021 Share Posted December 16, 2021 (edited) Service post: Bellower (to bellow ~ to shout) A Belower would be a Chanter who either sings really deep tones, can only be Orlan or Dwarf, is exclusively Roparu or is a subclass from the Abyss or so I guess.. I value Troubadour over Bellower with most multiclasses because of the higher versatility. If you like offensive invocations a lot then I would also look into Skald because Tactician/Skald can have very high invocation output because stuff like Her Revenge only costs 2 phrases and those are quickly generated with singing + Brilliant (+the occasional crit). Note that a Skald can only generate 1 phrase max per attack - even if he crits multiple times with an AoE like the WoTEP cone. However: every Offensive Parry counts as separate attack and can generate a phrase on crit. So a high deflection, Brilliant Tactician/Skald who parries a lot of attacks can generate phrases very quickly and at the same time has very cheap offensive invocations. Edited December 16, 2021 by Boeroer 1 Deadfire Community Patch: Nexus Mods Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dyxx Posted December 16, 2021 Author Share Posted December 16, 2021 (edited) Thanks for those "infos" The problem I see with Bellower is that lower PL bonuses override higher if I remember correctly, so only the last is applied to the next an so on. I guess Skald will produce more phrases if Troubadour dosnt activate Brisk Recitation. But the long lingering from Troubadour sounds fine, but on the other hand songs are stopped after activating an Invocation. What weapon would be good for Skalds ? DW over 2handed ? Maybe rapier with modal on or Wotep with higher Deflection like you said @Boeroer As for stats: Does dex affect casting speed of Invocations ? I know it doesn't affect chant speed. Int: 15 should be enough ? Edited December 16, 2021 by Dyxx Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Constentin Lévine Posted December 16, 2021 Share Posted December 16, 2021 16 minutes ago, Dyxx said: The problem I see with Bellower is that lower PL bonuses override higher if I remember correctly, so only the last is applied to the next an so on. It is not, if you extend the duration you can easily see the PL bonus staying to 7 (on SC bellower). And because any invocation consume all the phrases, I think you get PL based on your max. phrase account (depending of the maximum coast of the higher invocation you have), not on the invocation casted. Dual wiel is a good thing to refresh faster your phrases with skald, especially with Sun and Moon since you get 2 hits rolls on an attack. But WotE with offensive parry and a high deflection is nice too, ripostes are instantaneous. Dex and other Action speed and Recovery bonus affect spell, and as chanter you can have Quick effect from The bride... and as Fighter, a reduced recovery penalty. Anf for prevent any Dex afflictions, the invocation Shatter teir Shackles give you the immunity, but not this upgrade (only allies)! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dyxx Posted December 16, 2021 Author Share Posted December 16, 2021 16 minutes ago, Constentin Lévine said: It is not, if you extend the duration you can easily see the PL bonus staying to 7 (on SC bellower). And because any invocation consume all the phrases, I think you get PL based on your max. phrase account (depending of the maximum coast of the higher invocation you have), not on the invocation casted. Can someone confirm this ? Cause I've red the exact opposite. How long does the PL bonus last ? I mean is it long enough to get two other Invocations out ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boeroer Posted December 16, 2021 Share Posted December 16, 2021 (edited) 2 hours ago, Dyxx said: I guess Skald will produce more phrases if Troubadour dosnt activate Brisk Recitation. But the long lingering from Troubadour sounds fine, but on the other hand songs are stopped after activating an Invocation. Troubadour might generate more phrases than Skald with Brisk Recitation - but if you focus on offensive invocations with a Skald then he will still generate more "phrase value" in a given time when Brilliant (and add a crit-phrase sometimes). If you look at "Her Revenge Swept Across":No Brilliant, no crit-phrase, with Brisk Recitation: Skald needs 12 secs (normal linger time) Troubadour needs 12 seconds (0 linger time) Brilliant, no crit-phrase, with Brisk Recitation: Skald needs 6 secs (normal linger time) Troubadour needs 9 secs (0 linger time) Brilliant, 1 crit-phrase (think of melee attack), with Brisk Recitation: Skald needs 3 secs (normal linger time) Troubadour needs 9 secs (0 linger time) Brilliant, 2 crit-phrases (think of melee attack + 1 Offensive Parry), with Brisk Recitation: Skald needs 0 secs (normal linger time) Troubadour needs 9 secs (0 linger time) Take into account what you said about chanting stopping after Invocations, too: a Skald has the opportunity to generate phrases even then, especially when using Offensive Parry. Even without crits-phrases the Skald can perform better - IF you want to focus on low-cost offensive invocations. As I said the Troubadour is a lot more verstile - and if you also want to use summons, support etc. then Troubadour will on average be the best pick imo. But if you like to shout things to pieces a lot then I'd look into Skald. Mainly because of the cheaper cost, not he crit-phrases (those I only see as little bonus but nothing to rely upon). 2 hours ago, Dyxx said: What weapon would be good for Skalds ? DW over 2handed ? Maybe rapier with modal on or Wotep with higher Deflection like you said @Boeroer The best weapons imo for Skald are: Sun & Moon (two flail heads = two chances for a crit with only one attack) Fists + Tuotilo's Palm and lots of Power Level bonuses Kapana Taga in combination with lots of engagement Concelhaut's Draining Touch + club+modal (e.g. Kapana Taga) in offhand + Miasma cast: Will debuff of -65, Draining Touch targets Will instead of Deflection. You need a little trick with grimoire-switching to prevent Draining Touch from disappearing after the first hit though - little cheesy Willbreaker + modal + fortitude debuffs + any melee attack that targets fortitude (Force of Anguish, Mule Kick, Brute Force in general) WotEP (Offensive Parry) with high deflection and/or immunity to disengagement attacks* Blade of the Endless Paths (ACC bonus + deflection malus on enemy) - especially on a Skald/Wizard because with an Essential Phantom you can apply/stack the deflection malus twice Rännig's Wrath (modal + Rapiers' natural ACC bonus + extra ACC enchantment) Seeker's Fang: modal + Spider's Flurry... Azure Blade (with enough fellows around +15 ACC) Blightheart: no crit-phrases bc. ranged but 1 phrase on kill instead - and it doesn't matter how you kill. Kills with invocations for example also work - also works when killing your own summons like skeletons etc. Pukestabber + another dagger + alcohol: very fast attack speed and inherent ACC bonus means more crits in a give time sure I forgot some... everything that is superfast is great, too. Some weapons have special "spell procs" that count as weapon attacks - for example Grave Calling procs Chilling Grave. I just don't remember if those also count as "melee" weapon attacks and can generate crit-phrases. I think not but am not 100% sure anymore. And if one-handed weapon then I value dual wielding over one handed style. The higher speed + eventual Full Attacks do create more crit-phrases in a given time than one handed's +12 ACC + crit conversion in my experience. *) WotEP/Offensive Parry can be paired with Nomad's Brigandine or Gipon Prudensco: they give bonus (melee) deflection in the first place, but they also can make you immune to disengagement attacks. This means that you will still trigger those attacks - but they all will miss automatically(!), triggering Offensive Parry every time(!). So if you purposefully break engagement you can get phrases for that. 1 hour ago, Dyxx said: Can someone confirm this ? Cause I've red the exact opposite. If you currently have 7 phrases on your counter and cast an invocation then you will lose 7 phrases (no matter the real cost of the invocation) and get 7 PL as bonus. If you only have 4 phrases at the time you cast you will only get 4 PL bonus. So basically it's "your current phrase counter = your PL bonus". Your max phrase counter determines how many phrases you can hold and that also determined how high your PL bonus can be. So make sure you take one most expensive invocation. That's a good advice for all chanter subclasses though - epecially for Skald, too. You don't want to only pick the cheapest ones because that would limit your max phrase counter. You want a least one very expensive invoc. in order to expand the counter... so you can collect more and don't create wasteful overflow so often. 1 hour ago, Dyxx said: How long does the PL bonus last ? I mean is it long enough to get two other Invocations out ? The Power Level only lasts for a short time so it's enough to cover the effects of the invocations you are casting it with. In the case of Eld Nary's Curse it doesn't even last long enough to cover all the jumps of the spell. But as Multiclass you won't get there. Usully if you cast a following invocation the old PL bonus from he previous invocation will be long gone and you'll get a new one for/from your actual invocation. However - you can prolong that initialy short duration with stuff like Salvation of Time or Wall of Draining - then it can stay for a very long time and then the highest bonus will supress lower ones (for example of successive invocations). Edited December 16, 2021 by Boeroer 1 Deadfire Community Patch: Nexus Mods Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Constentin Lévine Posted December 16, 2021 Share Posted December 16, 2021 Exactely, but a lower new bonus dosnt override an older higher (if it is again in current effects). 2 hours ago, Dyxx said: The problem I see with Bellower is that lower PL bonuses override higher if I remember correctly, so only the last is applied to the next an so on. (For this question) 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boeroer Posted December 16, 2021 Share Posted December 16, 2021 As long as you don't use Wall of Draining or Salvation of Time or use Sasha's Singing Scimitar and/or the Weyc's Wand this houldn't happen though. Bellower ususally can't collect phrases fast enough to cast a second invocation while the PL bonus if the first is still active. 1 Deadfire Community Patch: Nexus Mods Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dyxx Posted December 16, 2021 Author Share Posted December 16, 2021 So after all reading and comparing of those informations I'm gonna go go for Tactician/Skald. It seems to be the most effective and fun multiclass for what I want to do and it sounds quite fun/interesting to have a mix of melee attacks and Invocations. Summons can be thrown out to so everything is fine. On paper a really diverse multiclass with dmg potential. Thank you all for your help and input ! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thelee Posted December 16, 2021 Share Posted December 16, 2021 (edited) 9 hours ago, Dyxx said: Does the PL bonus apply to fighter skills and how long does the PL bonus last ? I didn't see this directly answered, but no, the bellower PL invocation doesn't apply to anything other than chanter invocations. It doesn't even seem to boost chants. Regardless of the mechanics of how it is implemented, it is definitely intended to be an invocation-focused subclass. Edited December 16, 2021 by thelee 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dgray62 Posted December 16, 2021 Share Posted December 16, 2021 If you go with Tactician/skald you'll want to maximize crits, which, I'm sure you know, are harder to get on PotD. Fortunately you'll have good tools for getting them, such as disciplined strikes etc. Being a tactician you'll definitely want a cipher companion to cast Phantom Foes. Not only will this help you proc brilliant, but it will also lower deflection and help you farm crits. This would be a solid build, and an excellent choice if you want more of a melee focus. That said, I'd second thelee's suggestion that you seriously consider bellower. When I play chanters I typically spend more time casting invocations later in the game, and on PotD especially bellower is a solid choice. With brilliant you won't have to worry too much about phrase generation. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NotDumbEnough Posted December 16, 2021 Share Posted December 16, 2021 I've tried both Tactician/Skald and Devoted (Sabres)/Skald. Honestly Tactician does not work well with Skald, The -5 acc/-1 pen against anything not threatened by a teammate is very significant. You'll also want to rely on Her Tears Fell Like Rain for most of your damage later on -- needless to say this means that you are easy to flank if you are using it at point blank to shotgun the enemy with multiple projectiles, and you do NOT want to be confused the instant before you finish the invocation, because it hits hard enough to OHKO your own teammates. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dyxx Posted December 16, 2021 Author Share Posted December 16, 2021 2 hours ago, thelee said: I didn't see this directly answered, but no, the bellower PL invocation doesn't apply to anything other than chanter invocations. It doesn't even seem to boost chants. Regardless of the mechanics of how it is implemented, it is definitely intended to be an invocation-focused Does the increase in PL add for the casted Invocation or does it get added after it ? Suddenly Bellower sounds interesting again. Seems like it would have a good action economy cause every cast of an Invocation clears the whole phrase pool so I could use fighter skills then and after my phrases are back I could cast an Invocation again. Long story short, less Invocations but with more impact and even summons would last longer so the lost phrases wouldn't really matter that much in long fights. Interesting, very interesting ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Not So Clever Hound Posted December 16, 2021 Share Posted December 16, 2021 (edited) 5 hours ago, Boeroer said: Troubadour might generate more phrases than Skald with Brisk Recitation - but if you focus on offensive invocations with a Skald then he will still generate more "phrase value" in a given time when Brilliant (and add a crit-phrase sometimes). If you look at "Her Revenge Swept Across": Of note, if the Troubadour is ranged and uses Blightheart, this might change a bit the picture in their favor. As @Exanos had explained in another thread, Blightheart can get phrases from enemy kills, especially if they start with Sasha set > empower Eld Nary > switch to Blightheart and reap the rewards of Eld Nary kills to chain cast Her Revenge or another Eld Nary or whatever. Edited December 16, 2021 by Not So Clever Hound Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boeroer Posted December 16, 2021 Share Posted December 16, 2021 Tactician/Skald works very well if you concentrate on cheap offensive invocations (2 phrase cost) - because a Brilliant Skald who gets 2 phrases every 6 secs can cast such a cheap invocation a lot more often than for example a Bellower or a Troubadour. If focused on such invocations the damage output per second is higher even wiothout melee crits - just because he will cast more often. With WotEP you don't even need to attack actively in order to gain crit-phrases. Just cast and move. You can see occasional crit-phrases as a nice-to-have bonus on top. I would not recommend casting Her Tears Fell like Rain with such a char because it will take 4 phrases (12 secs) instead of 2 (6 secs) for a Brilliant Skald which reduces the handling significantly. Positioning is more delicate, damage output is not better (Her Revenge is plenty strong and when cast twice as often can totally compete) and you also have the opportunity to perma-paralyze enemies with Killers Froze Stiff (which would also add another 25% crit conversion for crit-phrases to happen). If you want to cast Her Tears Fell like Rain I would suggest items that provide immunity to flanked (Kapana Taga for example). Imo Brilliant has a lot more impact on a Skald who uses cheap invocations than on a Bellower who needs to invest a lot more phrases per ivocation to be effective. I didn't find the -5 ACC significant with the right setup. If you like to use Killers Froze Stiff a lot (like I do) you can use the Helm of the White Void later to great effect and it also works well with Mule Kick for example. In addition to Phantom Foes it is also very effective to use Chillfog and also Hand Mortar with Blinding Smoke. Also Tactician with WotEP can use Mule Kick to Disorient with the cone - which entails the flanked status, too. A great weapon (I forgot) in combination with Her Revenge is Sasha's Singing Scimitar since it allows you to empower an invocation "for free" and even regain more than 1 empower point because Her Revenge counts as several empowered spells for the sake of the refund mechanic. So you can actually empower a Fighter ability in one fight (e.g. Clear Out) and regain all empower points in the next fight when you empower Her Revenge. I personally would pair a Bellower with Helwalker, Wizard or go single class, not really use a Tactician. But maybe I missed some significant synergy there. Deadfire Community Patch: Nexus Mods Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boeroer Posted December 16, 2021 Share Posted December 16, 2021 (edited) 54 minutes ago, Not So Clever Hound said: Of note, if the Troubadour is ranged and uses Blightheart, this might change a bit the picture in their favor. No, because Blightheart is even more effective for a Skald if he mainly uses 2-phrase invocations. A kill while carrying Blightheart will give him half of all phrases that he needs to unleash another invocation that potentially kills. Unfortunately you will only get 1 phrase per cast (even with Her Revenge) even if you kill more than one enemy with that cast. But still better than with a Troubadour who only gets 1/4th of waht he needs (at best) from a kill. An that's despite the Skald not being able to generate crit-phrases that way. I played a Berserker/Skald with BLightheart and it was a lot more efficient and casting faster than the Berserker/Troubadour I tried in comparison - but also less versatile of course. As Tactician/Skald you can not only get 1 phrase for a killing action and from singing every 6 secs but also from being Brilliant. That's 1.5 times of what you need every 6 secs (if you manage to kill every 6 secs of course). In the case above I "abuse" the fact that Berserkers kill their own skeletons and will get a phrase for that should they not kill an actual enemy (Many Lives Skellies are so weak they always die - they also help kill single foes because: more explosions that way ). Also it's a console-generated multi-multiclass char I made for some videos (you can see some monk abilities in the action bar) - just mentioning that so that viewers don't get confused how a char can have Monk-, Barb- and Chanter abilities all at once. Edited December 16, 2021 by Boeroer 1 Deadfire Community Patch: Nexus Mods Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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