Grenadier

[kroonermanblack]

I'm poking along at starting the game over on the Xbox, and I got to wondering if it's possible to build a character who only throws grenades (or does so as the majority of his actions). I figured no, since the skills don't seem to scale that well.

[Boeroer]

You can. The power of grenades scales with the explosive skill. It's not terribly effective but it can be a good additional source of dmg and CC.

Just keep in mind that explosives are consumables - so throwing bombs left and right non-stop can be expensive.

[dgray62]

You might consider playing a single class bellower or troubadour. You can get energized early that way, which allows your passive chants to interrupt foes on crit. Meanwhile, you could throw some bombs (which will also interrupt on crit when your energized) and cast invocations when you have sufficient phrases. Overall it would be a fun build with plenty of time to toss grenades and other explosives. You'd want to max out the explosives skill and wear the gloves you can buy from the merchant in Port Maje with Berath's Blessings points that give you +2 explosives. While it will cost some funds to build the bombs, you'll have no shortage of funds if you engage in piracy, and attack and loot other boats.

[thelee]

8 hours ago, dgray62 said:

You might consider playing a single class bellower or troubadour. You can get energized early that way, which allows your passive chants to interrupt foes on crit

this is roughly what i would recommend. i posted a build here that's hella fun, uses the energized invocation, and has a focus in explosives:

unfortunately, even on story mode you won't be able to get away with doing *only* explosives or even a majority, but you can focus on it and get good utility out of it.

interestingly, the cinder bomb is particularly useful for many reasons, but one of them is that the initial explosion automatically interrupts, no hit roll. so even if you suck at explosives, throwing a cinder bomb in the middle of a fight can be really useful because it'll mass interrupt a bunch of foes. obv if you do invest in explosives, actually hitting with the blind and the debuff is useful, and it also scales other bombs real well (implosion, frost, and shock are the ones that i use with high level explosion)

[Boeroer]

2 hours ago, thelee said:

interestingly, the cinder bomb is particularly useful for many reasons, but one of them is that the initial explosion automatically interrupts, no hit roll. 

That is indeed such a good feature.

Not related to explosives, but that's something that cinder bomb shares with Thrust of Tattered Veils (Wiz tier 1).

Good thing with both is: you don't need to build your character around them at all. They are easy to get and scaling etc. doesn't matter for them. You can just have them for really cheap (using a Grimoire or via crafting etc.). And still they can have great impact in certain fights where you are so much worse off without a reliable way to interrupt.