Witch (soulblade/berserker) vs Transcendant (soulblade/shaterred pillar)

[HommeNUL]

Hi everyone,

I know many threads already exits about soulblade but i wanted to know your opinions about berserk/SB vs ShatteredPillar/SB (melee obviously),  i love both and i wonder which is the strongest between the two and what your prefered. I precise that i talk striclty about those subclass (not ascendant or whatever "better options") and have a weakness for woetp XD. Thank you

*sorry for my english

[thelee]

i guess my response is rhetorical - why would you personally choose one or the other?

off the top of my head, i don't know what is particularly great about berserk in conjunction with SB. I can see Shattered Pillar being a great focus generator with swift flurry. Would you still want to use WotEP over monk fists?

[dgray62]

SP/SB would be a great combo; transcendents are one of my favorite MCs. As for a witch, I personally prefer witch ascendants, since the great barb speed boosts let you cast more powers while ascended. But I'd say a fury shaper/ascendent is probably the best combo for a witch caster, since a zerker is best for a melee MC.

[NotDumbEnough]

Shattered Pillar has an advantage in being able to use Soul Annihilation from range (though you must get the Instruments of Pain upgrade even if you're using fists -- the base ability and The Pain Persists both count as ranged weapons) which I think is fairly unique. It lets you forgo a lot of survivability concerns and just focus on damage output.

[Boeroer]

If I remember correctly Swift Flurry/HBD don't generate wounds nor focus (some time ago I played a Shattered Pillar/Soul Blade, but maybe my memory is failing me, maybe they generate focus but no wounds only).

However, Offensive Parry does generate focus AND wounds which makes Shattered Pillar/Soulblade an intesting combo. Offensive Parry also triggers Swift Flurry/HBD attacks which makes this even more interesting. Against weaker melee foes you will be drowning in wounds while killing stuff quickly. You will gain focus for Soul Annihilation with the parries and can spam it. 

What's even cooler imo is that with Nomad's Brigandine's immunity vs. disengagement attacks you can disengage at any time which will lead to all disengagement attacks against you missing which in turn leads to Offensive Parries. In combination with the Long Stride this can be a big tactical advantage' moving away from harm while at the same time creating wounds and focus, dazing the enemies AND potentially causing Swift Flurry/HBD cascades, too.

Imagine you are faced with a lot of melee enemies and they start to surround you, you feel uncomfortable so you take a few steps away so that the enemies are in front of you again, collect all the disengagement attacks and parry them, gain focus and wounds, hurt some enemies in the process and then have them in the perfect position for a Soul Annihilation cone attack.

You kind of also need this trick from time to time because deflection of Monk/Soulblade won't be superhigh - compared for the usual Offensive-Parry-mix made of Paladins, Tricksters, Fighters, Priest of Wael or Wizards. At least on PotD. On lower difficulties you can do a lot more parries with a little less deflection.

You also need max RES and all the melee deflection+ gear you can get. This also means Port Maje's Well Travelled Supplier paid with Berath Blessing points is good for you (because then you'll get a cheap Cloak of Greater Deflection superearly).

I never tried Berserker/Soulblade with WotEP because I can't see particulary nice synergies there except the stacked weapon PEN (+1 WotEP, +1 Hammering Thoughts, +2 Tenacious). Could work well with a healing-on-kill pet though in combination with SA+Blood Thirst.