Highest crit build for Berserker?

[Viryu]

Topic. I will be finishing my first playthrough soon, and I was already thinking what I'd want to play for next one. It was either Berserker Fury with Voulge, or Berserker with greatswords (Sanguine? Effort?) and focusing on crits.

 

Question is, what would be a reliable crit chance build for a Berserker? I was thinking Devoted, for the Aware inspiration for crit chance and passive crit damage. What about other classes for multiclassing?

[Boeroer]

When going Berserker/Devoted I would look at Amra (two handed Battle Axe). The combination of Carnage + Amra's Riven Gore + Blood Thirst + Cleaving Stance is excellent. You'd need 25 MIG though. Sanguine Great Sword is not bad and so is Effort - but they come rather late. Amra is obtaniable quite early. If you have a Chanter with skeleton summons then this combo is even better because a confused Berserker/Devoted will also kill skeletons with Carnage/Riven Gore which will proc Cleaving and Blood Thirst. Just don't go near him because Rive Gore can outright kill (destroy) your party members if they have less than 50 HP left. 

A build the does land a bit less crits maybe - but attacks faster and thus generates more crits in a given time AND does tremendous crit damage - is Streetfighter/Berserker. But it's a lot squishier than Berserker/Devoted. 

 

 

[Viryu]

So I'm guessing the highest reliable crit chance would be with Berserker and Devoted multiclass, I'm a bit off-put by streetfighter's passive.

 

By the way, could you please advise on the build I had in mind:

MC: Berserker/Devoted (Conan style Greatswords)

Paladin/Troubadour

Paladin/Troubadour

SC Chanter with max int (brisking Courage Thick as Stell and using Dragon and resource recovery chants.), I'm not sure what range weapon to use to not leave phrase range for party

Undecided between Ancient or Cipher(any class or SC/multi, I'm new to them) (I'm doing Blood Mage run now, would like something fresh, especially that AI didn't handle AoE spells well with friendly fire)

[Not So Clever Hound]

2 hours ago, Viryu said:

By the way, could you please advise on the build I had in mind:

MC: Berserker/Devoted (Conan style Greatswords)

Paladin/Troubadour

Paladin/Troubadour

SC Chanter with max int (brisking Courage Thick as Stell and using Dragon and resource recovery chants.), I'm not sure what range weapon to use to not leave phrase range for party

Undecided between Ancient or Cipher(any class or SC/multi, I'm new to them) (I'm doing Blood Mage run now, would like something fresh, especially that AI didn't handle AoE spells well with friendly fire)

With 2 Heralds, a SC Chanter and an Ancient or whatever to cast Great Maelstrom at the beginning of encounters plus all the other goodies including for example enlarge summon/Wild Growth on your Dragon for fun... you can basically launch the game, sit back, get coffee and relax until the credit rolls.  well not exactly, but close.

Your Berserker/Devoted's primary task will be to try and reach the enemy before they die amidst your truckload of deadly summons, and to not die from self-inflicted raw damage - but he won't because Devoted + Paladin/Troubadour healbots. I know killing skellies is fun, but if you plan on actually using all your nice summons you should use Modwyr or DoC breastplate to get rid of Confused.

Cipher is always nice but it's less appealing here because none of your other toons really requires Ancient Memory. Late game, anything that won't outright die from Great Maelstrom will be taken care of by Summon overload and Invocations mayhem.

Edited January 25, 2022 by Not So Clever Hound

[Viryu]

Yeah, I really don't know what to put in the 5th slot, Cipher doesn't seem to completement this build. Double paladin and triple chanter would already buff my MC to make me feel like the hero of the story (which is what I'm aiming with the composition), plenty of heals and already a resource recovery from chanter. Most likely Ancient it is. For summons I did try to limit myself on the current run, but the mega bosses really needed some weapon summoning...

 

What ranged weapon would be good for a ranged chanter to keep them decently close to the front liners? I tried double blunderbuss (Kitchen Stove + Xefa's) on a cipher on current run, it kept  damaging the tanks, I'm quite afraid it would be the same with chanter. Would Hand Mortars be a similar nuisance?

[Kaylon]

For a berserker/devoted the Voulge is the most reliable weapon for both single and AoE dps. Static Thunder, Bolting Strikes and the shock/slash damage are hard to beat. Amra is flashy because can easily destroy packs of weak enemies, but it has poor single target dps and against very resistant/immune to slash enemies you will struggle with your fists.

[Boeroer]

5 hours ago, Kaylon said:

but it has poor single target dps

Eh?

5 hours ago, Kaylon said:

 and against very resistant/immune to slash enemies you will struggle with your fists.

Against high AR enemies you'll have plenty of PEN (+4 from Tenacious and Devoted and +1 compared to normal battle axes). Against a bit of underpenetration Bleeding Cuts does help. Bleeding Cuts is also very good against tough single enemies.

There aren't a lot of tough enemies that are immune to slash damage. Why would one struggle with fists (having taken Monastic Unarmed Training of course) in those rel. rare cases?

Anyway: LD's Voulge is also great for this class combo. Dual dmg - with one of them being shock - is useful. If one knows where to get it then it's obtainable very early and it's even free. The upgrading process is pretty easy, too and costs no resources which is an advantage. 

You cannot upgrade it to the quality levels you could enchant Amra to though (or other unique weapons). But I think that's just a rel. minor drawback.

I like it even better on Berserker/Monk or Devoted/Monk though because a multiple occurance of Swift Flurry/Heartbeat Drumming often has pretty spectacular chain reaction effects. 

Another nice weapon for crit builds with Berserker/Devoted is the Willbreaker. With Brute Force + Body Blows you will potentially generate more crits (and also when using Clear Out and Mule Kick), it has a crit conversion, potential DoT and dual damage as well as good base PEN - and the fortitude debuff is very useful for your whole party most of times. Since it's not obtainable super early (but not too late either) one can use the nice Saru Sichr from Arkemyr's basement until one can get the Willbreaker. Saru Sichr's DoT is pretty funky and more potent than it seems (it stacks with itself like Bleeding Cuts and has the same trigger mechanic on hit which makes Bleeding Cuts so effective) - but it doesn't work against poison-immune enemies. I often use both at the same time in a party because they are so useful to me. 

I also like the Blade of the Endless Paths in its Deadfire iteration. The combination of raising accuracy and deflection debuff leads to a lot of crits, too. Of course pierce-only damage - although ultra high PEN - comes with a price...

 

 

Edited January 26, 2022 by Boeroer

[Viryu]

Thank you. I'm leaving Voulge for a planned third and final playthrough as a druid.

What would be a the earliest level one could reliably attempt to obtain Sanguine Greatsword?

I supposed that wealth ring would fit in quite nicely into a high crit chance build? What would you advise for a second ring and necklace?

 

@BoeroerBlade of Endless Paths actually looks really interesting. From what I understand, natural crits occur only when your accuracy is higher than the defense of the target, and this one adds both accuracy and reduces deflection. It would be interesting for long fights? What enemies would have immunity to pierce though? I kept reading a lot about it quite being common.

Edited January 26, 2022 by Viryu

[dgray62]

3 hours ago, Viryu said:

Thank you. I'm leaving Voulge for a planned third and final playthrough as a druid.

Keep in mind that the Voulge is a very different weapon in the hands of a druid that it is for a barb. For the former it is basically a stat stick that boosts your storm spells. For a barb, it's a fantastic and unique weapon, the only one to my knowledge that applies effects via carnage. Hits with the weapon (including via carnage) apply static thunder stacks to the foes surrounding you, and then when you crit, all those stacks are discharged in an often spectacular AOE lightning explosion. It's worth using at least twice, once for a druid and at least once on a barb.

Edited January 26, 2022 by dgray62
Error correction

[Boeroer]

Or you play a Berserker/Fury, bind it to the Druid class and still be able to have Static Thunder with the Barb's Carnage.  That is actually a pretty fun combo if you have a good healer becaus your elemental spells can get tremendous penetration.

4 hours ago, Viryu said:

What would be a the earliest level one could reliably attempt to obtain Sanguine Greatsword?

I obtained it several times when being underleveled but I don't recall the exact level. Those fampyrs are pretty hard to beat though. It may be quite easy with a solo Assassin/Paladin using Lover's Embrace + Gouging Strike + Brand Enemy. You could just bring an Assassin/Paladin hireling for that purpose and then dump him afterwards. Once Gouging Strike and Brand Enemy can be picked it shouldn't be too hard to sneak to individual fampyrs, deliver a Gouding Strike with Lover's Embrace from stealth, follow up with Brand Enemy and use Smoke Veil to retreat out of sight and wait until one fampyr is dead. Repeat until all are dead. The Assassin's ACC bonus from stealth (+25 ACC) as well as the single handed usage of the Dagger (+17 ACC) should help to reliably hit them.
You could already try at lvl 4 I guess without Gouging Strike but with Flames of Devotion + Ring of Focused FLames + Lover's Embrace. ACC should be comparable but the process will take a bit longer because  lot less damage over time. And you will be having bad stealth which might make it difficult to approach the fampyrs without being seen. 

4 hours ago, Viryu said:

I supposed that wealth ring would fit in quite nicely into a high crit chance build? What would you advise for a second ring and necklace?

When it's strictly about crits maybe Necklace of the Harvest Moon or Precogntion for the neck slot. For a Berserker a Ring of Greater Regeneration isn't bad.

By the way I would use a pet that heals on kill. Some do +20 health on kill for you only and some do +10 health on kill for the whole party. Abraham is such a pet for example. It can help to manage the Berserker's self damage better. 

4 hours ago, Viryu said:

@BoeroerBlade of Endless Paths actually looks really interesting. From what I understand, natural crits occur only when your accuracy is higher than the defense of the target, and this one adds both accuracy and reduces deflection. It would be interesting for long fights?

For long fights against high-defense foes it's especially interesting. But even in short fights it's good because the marking effect works right after your first crit and helps to crit even more. 

4 hours ago, Viryu said:

I kept reading a lot about it quite being common.

It's mostly everything skeletal and also some spirits (flame blight). It's one of the most common immunities unfortunately. Pierce-resistant foes (ones with very high pierce armor) are usually not a problem because Devoted + Berserker + Estoc leads to pretty ridiculous penetration. There may be some foes like Steelclad constructs taht have higher AR than you have PEN - but not really that many. But against the pierce-immune targets you should either use your fists + Monastic Unarmed Training (no drawback, but you need to invest an extra ability point) or a backup weapon, preferably with crush damage (like Quarterstaff or Morning Star). You will have reduced accuracy with that weapon but it still helps... and you don't have to pick up Monastic Unarmed Training.    

[Viryu]

Does Voulge deal the best of Slash/Shock, or is it split?

[Boeroer]

either/or, based on the lower armor value of the enemy.

[Viryu]

For the paladins, I read around that Golden Emnity and Exalted aura don't stack. Is that true?

[dgray62]

For a Goldpact Paladin, the AR bonuses don't stack since both are active. However, if you select Exalted Endurance, the +1 AR will benefit your allies (as well as yourself before you cast Gilded Enmity), and everyone will benefit from the healing. But you can also pick Exalted Focus instead, of course.

[Boeroer]

Golden Enmity only lasts for a few hits. Once it drops you will still have the +1 from Exalted Endurance. Also Exalted Edurace has the resource- and limitless healing going for it which complements high AR very well. 

 

[Viryu]

So basically you would be getting +3 AR difference instead of +4 if the aura was active, correct?

Same topic which mentioned those 2 skills also said Ancient Memory doesn't stack, though I saw plenty of topics which said it  does. It's hard to test it on Playstation for me. I saw only one AM in the beneficial effects list, but the ticks were quite often, as if 2 phrases from 2 chanters did indeed pulse.

[Boeroer]

Yes. +3 AR is still massive though. For further info on why AR is so important and is better than the in-game numbers suggest read @thelee's gamefaq on that matter:
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/pc/227477-pillars-of-eternity-ii-deadfire/faqs/76599/armor-and-penetration

Ancient Memory will stack with Exalted Endurance's healing and any other healing effects. But it will not stack with itself (when it overlaps with a lingering Ancient Memory). You can use Brisk Recitation and remove overlap altogether and still gain the same amount of healing. If you manage 100% overlap via Linger time you can use Ancient Memory + Mercy and Kindness for better healing. Mercy and Kindness also influences the Healng from your Exalted Endurace (and Lay on Hands etc.) - as well as any other healing that is used in the party. 

 

Edited January 29, 2022 by Boeroer

[dgray62]

I personally think that Exalted Endurance is the best choice, even for a Goldpact. It's +1 AR is always on, so will protect you, say, from opening fire at the beginning of an encounter, before you can cast Gilded Enmity, and will also protect you once the gold is broken, before you can recast it.

[Viryu]

I did end up using Karaboru. I'm having difficulty checking some effects due to limited combat log on playstation and enemies dying too fast. Does the cone attack act like an additional attack, or does it work as an extension of the crit? Can the targets in the cone also get his with critical damage? Can it be triggered via abilities like Barbaric Smash or only basic attacks?

 

PS. Is there a way on consoles to highlight the radius of Chanter's phrases to see how far it works?

[Dyxx]

5 minutes ago, Viryu said:

PS. Is there a way on consoles to highlight the radius of Chanter's phrases to see how far it works?

Nope, you can only look at the portraits when the buff expires.

Do you know if there's a possibility to move the UI to the right side and get the buff-/denuffbar (r2 button) smaller ?

[Bosmer]

12 minutes ago, Viryu said:

I did end up using Karaboru. I'm having difficulty checking some effects due to limited combat log on playstation and enemies dying too fast. Does the cone attack act like an additional attack, or does it work as an extension of the crit? Can the targets in the cone also get his with critical damage? Can it be triggered via abilities like Barbaric Smash or only basic attacks?

Yes, the initial target will again be affected by the cone attack. It also triggers from any attack with Karaboru. So with high-crit chances its a decent weapon.

[Viryu]

I've just finished a quick playtrhough after reaching lvl 20. It was fun, plenty of crits and high damage numbers. I'm guessing it would be less effective on higher difficulties. Attack and recovery speeds were ridicoulously low, I saw as little as 0,4/1,8~2,0. Generally a fun enjoyable playtrhough if you come with the mind set of being the "hero" and focusing on it.

 

Fun factor goes to Kabaoru, amazing greatsword for a crit build.

Damage wise Voidwheel was on top. With all the passive healing from chanters phrases, paladin and equipment aura, pet per kill hp, late game the character almost always ended with full hp, despite additional damage from berserker's frenzy. That also made picking a human race a bit pointless, as the character almost never became bloodied.

 

Composition wise, druid felt a bit useless, the healing was used only early, only the aoe insect spell and aoe thorns were of any impact. Late game only PL7 Rust and PL8 Hit to Crits spells had any meaning on bosses. 

What did ruin the enjoyment and fun factor was an abundance of summons. They were more than not blocking the path to enemies. Too many chanters I guess. Pure chanter was a bit unnecessary as well. Earlier phrases were nice, summoning dragon was pure joy, but the penetration on Devoted Berserker wasn't stacking with the buffs. Resource recovery didn't restore Druid's spells as well I think, which was the main point of it, plus it was a cone chant.

Curse pillars were a bane of my existence, I had to go out of my way later on to pick a druid spell which would work on them.

Edited February 9, 2022 by Viryu

[dgray62]

10 hours ago, Viryu said:

Curse pillars were a bane of my existence, I had to go out of my way later on to pick a druid spell which would work on them.

They often reflect direct damage, but not from AOE spells. You can take them out with any long range AOE spells. If you have a druid or wizard with you, you can take them out easily.