Detailed Companion Builds?

[Dalinoth]

Just curious why the dedicated build thread does not have detailed companion builds please?  Does anyone have links to some?

Thanks.

[Shai Hulud]

6 hours ago, Dalinoth said:

Just curious why the dedicated build thread does not have detailed companion builds please?  Does anyone have links to some?

Thanks.

These builds by Sin Tee are old but still pretty good. I figure most companions though you can just build similar to a MC of that class if you want, although some have unique subclasses or non-ideal stat spreads. 

https://steamcommunity.com/id/teesinz/myworkshopfiles/?section=guides&appid=560130&p=2

Also I figure in general there aren't as many because it is a lot more work to post builds for like 13 companions / sidekicks 

Edited April 23, 2023 by Shai Hulud

[masterty66]

If you search the forums you can probably find builds for specific companions or at least ideas for how to do them. If you want general concepts, here's a few ideas I often use:

 

1) Eder: Fighter/Rogue. Give him Cadlu Scalth (shield) and Kapana Taga (club). Take Riposte, Persistent Distraction, Adept Evasion, and Guardian Stance. Give him heavy armor. Add anything that improves his deflection as high as possible (to help riposte) He's now a great tank that can engage lots of enemies and provide a bit of dps as well. 

2) Aloth: Pure Wizard. Nothing special gear wise honestly. Early on, use spells like miasma, chill fog, and combusting wounds to add some damage and debuff enemies. At high levels pick up the spell Cadebald's Black Bow, cast it, and then cast Essential Phantom. You now have a Wizard plus a Phantom who will both shoot arrows at enemies that terrify and do solid auto attack dps. Great cc + solid damage.

3) Xoti: Pure Priest. Nothing special gear wise other than rings of overseeing or anything that improves aoe radius or intelligence. Key spells: Use Devotions for the Faithful and Dire Blessing to buff your party's accuracy. At high levels, you can use her more offensively by using the symbol spell she gets which is fantastic. When she has spare spell slots (after buffing) you can also use shining beacon, cleansing flame, and storm of holy fire to add great dps.

4) Tekehu: Pure Druid. Focus on heals (stacking Moonwell, The Moon's Light, and Nature's Balm can make your party very hard to kill). For offense, chillfog is fantastic and party friendly. Returning Storm is great. Infestation of Maggots is great. At high levels, Maelstrom can end fights quickly. If you can acquire the Great Sword Effort, the hemorrhage upgrade on that works with his pulsing spells as well which helps to debuff enemies further. If you bring him, bring a Priest (Xoti or PC) along to buff his accuracy so his spells land. His per is not great. For gear, things that improve aoe radius, int or per are all nice.

5) Serafen: I like Witches. A lot of people hate his Wild Mind class though, so you might prefer Barb. But since I play him most often as a Witch, here's how I do it: Morningstar (plus modal), Secret Horrors (fantastic debuff), and then use charm spells or his dps spells (disintegrate, soul ignition) to harm enemies. 

6) Maia: Ranger/Rogue. Grab the Red Hand (Arquebus), and that's honestly about it. She's a great single target dpser. Gouging Strike, Arterial Strike, and other such abilities plus her gun dps will make her a fantastic single target dpser. Conc shot + Upgrade are also nice to help interrupt enemies or strip enemy buffs.

 

That's a few quick outlines. If you want more info on any, I'm happy to elaborate.

[limaxophobiacq]

Of the companions the gameplay I've probably enjoyed the most is Aloth as two-handed Battlemage in his starting armor (with structurally stable for no Crushing AR penalty) and Heaven's Cacophony helmet as an off-tank. Conquerer's Stance for always on +10 accuracy and Tactical Barrage/Refreshing Defense + Spirit Shield/Mirror image/Alacrity/Spirit-Lance only take ~3 seconds to cast (these are the only spells I'd take as abilities and then I'd use grimoires for the rest, and ideally take the path that gives him -1s grimoire switch time) so he can quickly get to throwing Spirit-Lance Clear-Outs (with the option of Avenging Storm from Heaven's Cacophony), knock-downs, and 4th/6th/7th level spells from grimoires. Does a lot of damage and CC against groups of enemies while being quite sturdy (with wizard buffs and Int scaling for fighter buffs battlemage Aloth is tankier than Eder can hope to be in Deadfire).

People tend to argue for using Xoti as a priest and while that's not wrong her single-class monk path ends up quite strong; really the only thing not to do with Xoti is multiclass. Xotis monk subclass is bad early game when you're spending 2-3 wounds instead of 1-2 for your abilities but late game 6 wounds instead of 5 for Whispers of the Wind doesn't even matter and WotW tends to kill people -> more wounds for Xoti. Keep it simple and use monk fists which are very generously statted while saving you upgrade supplies + Ajamuut's Stalking Cloak. Single-class monks as a base are just really good and she mostly just a bit worse in boss-fights where she can't get kills. Because I am incredibly lazy I just gave her heavy armor + Iron Wheel and a script to use WotW on the nearest enemy if she had 6 wounds and a a might inspiration.

Edited April 24, 2023 by limaxophobiacq

[Shai Hulud]

Agree with @limaxophobiacq

Battlemages are fantastic, and Aloth's stats are decent enough, just have Aloth cast unbending and a wall of draining and he's pretty much invulnerable. Citzal's Spirit Lance distributes mule kick which interrupts on graze so he is a great disruptor as well as damage dealer. It helps if you have someone in the party that can get resources back, like a cipher with ancestor's memory, but in most battles won't be necessary. 

Xoti has a really nice monk subclsass sister of the reaping moon, which gives her +3 wounds on kill though abilities cost +1 wounds. Most abilities you want to use cost 3+ wounds anyway so going from 3 to 4 or 5 to 6 is not much of a tradeoff for her subclass, particularly since her shield is excellent for monks and provides another +1 wound per kill. In any fight with crowds she can completely wreck things. For something really broken give her ajamuut's stalking cloak yes, but also keeper of the flame and eder's armor with veteran's maneuver. This combo with imagined pain will cause her to do gain enough wounds to just spam WOTW endlessly. If her health is getting low give her aldris blade of captain crow + keeper of the flame in another slot (using copy function for keeper of the flame), alrdis blade procs on crits for every attack, so if she attacks 7 enemies in a WOTW she is likely critting a few and it does a full attack on each. 

She's really good as a contemplative also, but pure monks are hard to beat if you don't have one in your party already.

If you need a healer Tekehu can fulfill that role quite well as a watershaper/stormspeaker, as chanter he has ancient memory, the beams of light spell, can also revive people, and as stormspeaker he has moonwell and nature's balm which are AOE heals, he's really all a party needs for support though Pallegina as chanter/paladin is also pretty good. 

I do like Serafen as a witch if you take him, but I usually don't take him. If you want a cipher grab Ydwin and run her pure cipher, she is much better at it than serafen. 

Eder is good as fighter/rogue

Maia is ridiculously good as rogue/ranger, her pet is immune to engagement and can fly around and flank things giving her insane accuracy + sneak attack, and if a party member throws down an AOE CC like mental binding or the thunder rolled like waves on black seas, this gives her deathblows for tremendous damage, and she reloads fast if you have a chanter chanting sure-handed ila as part of his chant, which procs TWICE for guns (-20% recovery, -20% reload, these are same thing for guns). And yes Red Hand is fantastic, usually she does about as much damage as rest of party combined, at least until Xoti gets WOTW. And unlike your rangers, she can interrupt things with guns, and has longer range compensating for the shorter range of Red Hand. She's basically built for that weapon. Take the enchantments Guilty Conscience for stacking +40% damage (the extra damage received doesn't matter since she is backline) and Double Tap which helps tremendously in dealing with vessels early game in the old city.

---------

So who I'd pick as companions depends on the MC, but in general you want 2 to 3 tanks / offtanks, a caster, a healer, and a CC specialist. Often one char can fulfill multiple roles (like Tekehu is a caster, healer, and does CC, Aloth as battlemage is a tank+caster). 

I'd probably take one of Tekehu/Pallegina if Xoti is pure monk (maybe even if not), Xoti as monk or contemplative, two of Eder/Aloth/Rekke as your frontline, and Maia and/or Ydwin for backrow damage (and in ydwin's case support). Konstanten is also decent as a howler or pure barbarian and Vatnir is good however you build him though I'm partial to celebrant. Fassina is very bleh.

I don't usually take sidekicks besides maybe one, since they don't have quests, but there are some really good builds for Ydwin (cipher), Rekke (brawlers and brutes are both fantastic), and Mirke (shadowdancer). Rekke in particular makes an amazing combo tank and damage dealer, though with Eder and Aloth you're really set for tanks. So consider taking one of them. Rekke is probably the best tank in the game and Ydwin as pure cipher provides a unique role for party support with high level cipher spells like ancestor's memory (gives someone brilliant), time parasite (massive speed boost + debuff), and reaping knives, which I'd give to one of your front-line DPS chars (Xoti is a good choice before you get keeper of the flame). Ciphers also have great lower level spells like mental binding (unparalleled CC for 20 focus), pain block (superb single target healing), echoing shield (AOE resolute and concentration debuff), tactical meld (great to cast on tanks who need more engagement and accuracy), and she can buff her own accuracy and defenses with borrowed instinct, which I'd keep up at all times for the +20 accuracy bonus so the other spells hit. Disintegration and Death of 1000 cuts also do insane single target damage over time, Soul Ignition a decent substitute before you get them. Give her the bow Frostseeker or Essence Interrupter (I prefer the latter thematically) and she does tons of damage and builds focus quickly. 

I guess if my MC is a martial type, I'd probably take Eder, Tekehu, Xoti, and Ydwin

If my MC is a caster I'd take Eder, Tekehu, Aloth or Xoti, and Maia. 

Basically always take Eder for the Berath Blessing "...can i pet him anyway" which offers great party wide buffs due to the extra pet slot. If you don't take this blessing you can sub Eder for someone else. 

Edited April 24, 2023 by Shai Hulud

[Dalinoth]

Thanks everyone for the advice.

 

If you were going to run Xoti as a pure Monk, how would you use her early game please?  Fists, 2 handed-weapon like quarterstaff for more reach, ranged?

[dgray62]

You might consider using her fist in the main hand and her lantern/small shield in her off hand. While this isn't optimal in terms of DPS, the lantern shield gives her greater survivability and the threshing aura is great for a party if you max her religion skill.

[Shai Hulud]

8 hours ago, dgray62 said:

You might consider using her fist in the main hand and her lantern/small shield in her off hand. While this isn't optimal in terms of DPS, the lantern shield gives her greater survivability and the threshing aura is great for a party if you max her religion skill.

Exactly this, even without threshing aura I use her shield a lot because of the lantern glow and for monks soulkeeper gives + 1 mortification and +1 wounds per kill, AND it procs on killing friendly summons, so in longer battles you can refresh your mortification by killing some chanter skeletons. 

Tuotilo's Palm is nice but the shield base damage sucks and dual-wielding doesn't do double damage so you only do slightly more damage with it. Fighting with Xoti's Lantern and fist at 15 dex she attacks once per 3s and does something like 14 to 20 base damage (it varies with transcendent suffering but this is base I think), for average of 5.66 DPS

With 15 dex tuotilo's palm assuming you have two-weapon style she attacks twice per 4.3s (4.7s without) and does 14 to 20 with fist and 10 to 14 with shield for average damage per attack of 14.5 and for 6.59 DPS, which is slightly better, but the shield also has bad penetration, plus it costs you an extra feat or else you're doing just 6.3 DPS, so I think unless you're a forbidden fist tuotilo's palm is not as mandatory. 

Two fists will do the best damage, there you get 7.39 DPS, but she will be more fragile

I often fight with fist + tuotilo's palm in slot 1, fist + xoti's lantern in slot 2, start combat with slot 1, when your resources are low switch to slot 2. When you get threshing aura that also helps with your party's DPS enough that tuotilo's palm may no longer be worth it. Her shield is especially good for celebrants since it also has +2 all restoration/inspiration power levels, but as pure monk you can give her healing scrolls to cast and they will benefit from the buff

Also DPS doesn't tell the whole story especially with Soulkeeper because gaining mortification and wounds means she can keep up swift flurry and thunderous blows and spam powerful monk attacks like efficient anguish or raised torment more often (eventually WOTW, which her shield is perfect for since killing things gives more wounds). 

Edited April 25, 2023 by Shai Hulud

[Kaylon]

Tuotilo's Palm has the same penetration and accuracy as your fists, just lower damage. Once enchanted it offers also great defense and either better accuracy or damage with fists.

The lantern is good for just one thing - the chance to restore mortification - which for me is a trap because the dps gains for having Swift Strikes available (maybe) longer are inferior to Tuotilo's Palm gains. The best way to benefit from the lantern is to keep it in the second slot and when an enemy is near death switch to it and let Xoti deal the finishing blow (if you really need mortification).

 

[Caeyrii]

The deepest companion build theorycrafting I do is... who gets to be the Mechanics mook. 

What <adjective> Companion talents are priority for a Scout Maia?

[Boeroer]

While Xoti's passive (+3 wounds on kill) only works for melee weapon kills(!) her lantern restores +1 wound an 1 motification for any kill, no matter how.

This can be important for Contemplative (e.g. Blessed Harvest kills will not trigger the passive, but the lantern's refund) and if you want to use Inner Death and Resonant Touch. Kills by those will not trigger Xotis "+3 wounds on kill" passive.

I know, Inner Death: unpopular choice... but it's actually pretty fun if one builds around it, has the lantern and adds Empowered Strikes, too. Like... if you grow tired af spamming WotW with Monks.
Since Inner Death costs Mortification it isn't affected by Xoti's increased wound cost. And with the lantern you can reuse it for every 3 kills you do. Be a little backline hunter, palm casters to death and so on. I liked to combine it with Skyward Kick. With Community Patch Inner Death is properly tagged as melee weapon attack, so you even get the +3 wounds on kill for Xoti. Made alternating between Skyward Kick and Inner Death easy. That's a pretty amusing combo against weak but dangerous enemies you want to get rid of asap. Of course not as overwhelmingly potent as WotW is.

Edited April 25, 2023 by Boeroer

[Shai Hulud]

5 hours ago, Caeyrii said:

The deepest companion build theorycrafting I do is... who gets to be the Mechanics mook. 

What <adjective> Companion talents are priority for a Scout Maia?

Ranger Side: Marked Prey, Marked for the Hunt, Marksman, Gunner, Protective Companion, Stalker's Link, Driving Flight, Survival of the Fittest, Superior Camouflage
Rogue Side: Dirty Fighting, Blinding Strike, Confounding Blind, Debilitating Strike, Deep Wounds, Devastating Blow, Deathblows
Common: Uncanny Luck, Improved Critical, Two-Handed Style, Deep Pockets if you use lots of items

I also like Evasive Roll but in a party it probably isn't critical. Accurate Wounding Shot is pretty good, especially if you take Predator's Sense. Can take other pet talents if you have room, Vicious and Resilient are most useful. Then general stuff like Tough, Bull's Will, Bear's Fortitude.

Basically you just want her to have sky high accuracy and crit a lot, preferably on targets that will trigger sneak attack (ishiza is immune to engagement and can easily flank) and preferably deathblows, main reason to have a couple rogue actives. Does tremendous damage with devestating blow, and confounding blind is good for priority targets.

Give her ring of the marksman and gauntlets of accuracy, her default armor is good. Sky dragon wyrm or Retina are best pets for her, but will depend on rest of party obviously, sky dragon wyrm is pretty good overall though. 

--------

Or did you mean what talents for other companions are good for Maia? Sure-Handed Ila chant mostly. Ciphers can give her tactical meld, ancestor's memory. That's about it that comes to mind anyway, but in general things that provide afflictions are good so you don't have to use her rogue abilities as much. Ciphers and chanters are both useful there. 

Edited April 25, 2023 by Shai Hulud

[masterty66]

I honestly feel like Maia is as simple as give her the Red Hand and pick whatever talents and she'll still be good lol.

I mean obviously you can optimize her but her as any build + Red Hand = single target dps machine.

Lately Geomancer Maia has grown on me a bit. Her + Phantom shooting things is good dps and all the other Wizard goodies are nice to have.

Edited April 25, 2023 by masterty66

[Shai Hulud]

2 hours ago, masterty66 said:

I honestly feel like Maia is as simple as give her the Red Hand and pick whatever talents and she'll still be good lol.

I mean obviously you can optimize her but her as any build + Red Hand = single target dps machine.

Lately Geomancer Maia has grown on me a bit. Her + Phantom shooting things is good dps and all the other Wizard goodies are nice to have.

Pretty much, she will be "good enough" almost regardless what you pick, but with right picks she can reload faster, has +40ish accuracy from marked + flanked + stalkers link + marksman + survival of the fittest, and +85ish % damage from sneak attack + deathblows (+65 more from crits + overpen). When I built her like this in the past she did more damage than the rest of my party. 

Just script her to target whatever Ishiza is attacking (and maybe marked prey on > 90% health once per 30s or whatever) since you can't script ishiza. Then you position ishiza to create flanks and maia auto targets these enemies.

Geomancers are cool, though if you have aloth in the party it's kind of wizard heavy

[Dalinoth]

Do most of you use Eder as a riposte tank or as a defender tank just relying on engagement please?

How would you equip him either way?

Edited April 26, 2023 by Dalinoth

[Kaylon]

Keep in mind that Eder is not the best tank and he's better in the role of a support/offensive tank. My ideal equipment for him as secondary tank would be:

• weapon - Tarn's Respite
• shield - Shining Bulwark
• head - Blackened Plate Helm
• neck - Claim and Refusal
• back - Cloak of Greater Deflection
• torso - Blackened Plate Armor
• hands - Aegor's Swift Touch
• ring1 - Ring of Minor Protection
• ring2 - Ring of Greater Regeneration
• waist - Ngati's Girdle
• feet - Boots of the Stone
• pet - Nalvi

[Shai Hulud]

8 hours ago, Dalinoth said:

Do most of you use Eder as a riposte tank or as a defender tank just relying on engagement please?

How would you equip him either way?

I take Eder mostly because

a) I like him
b) he can equip a second pet with "can i pet him anyway?" berath blessing

If I have the blessing off I'd be tempted to go without him because as kaylon says he is not the best tank, but you can give him stuff with +engagement like kapana taga club, blackened armor set (or reckless brigandine) if you need him in that role, I like most of the items kaylon suggested for eder. 

Also if you're playing vanilla game riposte ability is kind of weak, procs only on being missed completely, which most things that will seriously threaten your group won't do very often, with community patch riposte builds are more viable since it is 25% proc on miss/graze

[Dalinoth]

I am playing with the Community Patch, Enhanced UI and Berath's Blessings.  My MC is a Bow wielding Ghost Heart/Helwalker.  Given what you just said, how do I tweak Eder for a riposte build please?  In addition, what other companions would you suggest please?

[Boeroer]

13 hours ago, Dalinoth said:

Do most of you use Eder as a riposte tank or as a defender tank just relying on engagement please?

Erm... both at the same time.  I use him as main tank swashbuckler with a large shield and lots of engagement items (Hold the Line, Reckless Brigandine, Kapana Taga, Cadhu Scalth), Riposte, Mob Stance and a pet like Abraham for example. It makes him rel. fast when he's engaging a lot of enemies which makes him more reactive while still being able to engage 5 enemies - more is not practical imo. With Persistent Distraction he will passively debuff and afflict those 5 enemies automatically which is nice. With Kapana Taga and his attacks and Ripostes he will debuff enemies' Will for my party.
I also pick Adept Evasion - because in combination with the modal of the large shield and the enchantments of Cadhu Scalth you cannot really harm him when you cast friendly-fire spells on him + the enemies he's holding - if those spells target reflex. I also give him an item that makes him immune to push/pull effects (usually the Upright Captain's Belt) because I like to make heavy use of Pull of Eora in the area where he is holding most enemies. He will skill Athletics and Metaphysics bc. of Cadhu Scalth.
He will not do great amounts of weapon damage nor will he be the tankiest of tanks - but he's really useful for me that way.  

7 hours ago, Kaylon said:

Keep in mind that Eder is not the best tank and he's better in the role of a support/offensive tank. 

He is and was totally fine for lots of my party runs as the only tank. It takes some levels until he can withstand all sorts of enemies alone - but at some point it just works. Maybe because I usually don't use glass cannons so there is always a bit of support at the front line. And lots of debuffs and CC from the second row which of course helps with survivability of the front line.
The biggest gripe I have with him is his lowish INT. It's not so bad when taking Tactical Barrage - but I would still like my tank to have more INT. I would also have liked him to be an Unbroken instead of a no-subclass Fighter. But it still works. 

Edited April 26, 2023 by Boeroer

[masterty66]

I have the same experience as @Boeroer. I use Eder as my main tank in the majority of my runs (built the same way as Boeroer builds him) and he performs quite well that way. I am on potd upscaled etc. Eder is almost always my main tank unless my PC is built to be one. With the setup that Boeroer described he can hold tons of engagements and defensively he is strong enough to take hits. As Boeroer mentioned it can take some levels and gear to get there. Early on before he has good armor or Cadlu Scalth he is a lot less beefy. 

Of course I typically take a strong main support character in my parties (Xoti or Tekehu if the PC isn't one...sometimes even both of them or one plus Herald Pallegina if I'm in fights that require endurance (some of the tough SSS fights for example). So I do bring along a character to keep Eder healthy and hale. But I imagine that regardless of what most people use as a tank they're typically doing the same as well...on potd at least. 

[Caeyrii]

On 4/26/2023 at 4:38 AM, Shai Hulud said:

Or did you mean what talents for other companions are good for Maia? 

Nah, I meant the pet ones like those you mentioned:

Quote

Can take other pet talents if you have room, Vicious and Resilient are most useful.

Any tips on Wizard/Rogue Aloth before going into funky WOD + Escape territory?

[Shai Hulud]

5 hours ago, Caeyrii said:

Nah, I meant the pet ones like those you mentioned:

Any tips on Wizard/Rogue Aloth before going into funky WOD + Escape territory?

For spellblade aloth just give him llengrath's martial mysteries and cast buffs from that. Also give him healing hands gloves and cast that (or have a party member cast lay on hands or pain block). When they're all up (or the longer cast ones anyway) cast wall of draining + escape (plus other fast but short buffs like arcane veil) and he's pretty invulnerable for a while, if you hit enough enemies with the wall you probably bought 60+ seconds extension on the buffs including the crazy healing from lesser lay on hands. Would definitely use him as a striker / disruptor as spellblade.

I guess with Escape plus arcane veil he has super high deflection and will riposte a lot (pretty sure they stack, but it's been a while could be mistaken), though active attacks are the focus. Ripostes while wielding citzal's spirit lance can be pretty devestating though. He has enough deflection from wizard/rogue buffs he doesn't really need a shield to proc it. Citzal's lance will also distribute active abilities like fighter's mule kick or rogue's arterial strike, sap, devestating blows etc. Sap + Devestating Blow triggers deathblows on the whole group that got hit from the first one and does crazy damage. Escape can be used to go behind enemy lines and zerg high priority targets.

Pull of Eora is very useful to pull enemies together so your lance hits more of them (it also pseudo-interrupts them when they get pulled), just make sure not to cast it near your fiendlies who aren't immune to push/pull or don't have very high fortitude. There's a couple item sources like horns of the aurochs and upright captains belt, just put these on your frontline chars and the backline ones should be far enough they won't get sucked in.

If you have some source of brilliant, easiest being a cipher with ancestor's memory, he can keep the buffs up longer. But Llengrath's Safeguard has really good duration anyway (like two minutes), so does infuse with vital essence, deleterious alacrity of motion, arcane reflection. Arcane veil isn't in that grimoire and has shorter duration but you may want to memorize it or just grimoire switch. Llengrath's Displaced Image does stack with the veil, has very long duration, and gives a huge boost to reflex which helps if you aren't using a shield. Deletrious Alacrity of Motion also has long duration. Even lowly spells like mirror image (also not in llengrath) are pretty good since it has long duration and the mirrors only disappear when he gets hit and he won't get hit that much. They don't go away on grazes I don't think.

So stuff to memorize: eldritch aim, mirrored image, arcane veil, pull of eora, wall of draining, this is really all you need that isn't in llengrath. Normally I'd carry Arkemyr's Grimoire for Arkemy's Brilliant Departure but as a spellblade he doesn't really need it, still if he is the only wizard you might give it to him. If you want to go nuke mode give him ninagauth, but spellblade aloth is best used stabbing things with the lance.

Since you don't take a ton of spells you can take most of the rogue passives and abilities. 

Alternatively...if you want more casts you could give him grimoire of vaporous wizardry, but he'd want to wear the rekvu's fractured casque (best injury is wrenched knee, which you can get walking over caltrops traps like the ones in poko kahara ruins, but he can also just kill himself with necrotic lance for acute rash). Also only relevant spell in that grimoire is wall of draining, so you'd have to memorize about five more spells compared to carrying llengrath, but it could be worth it late game.

IIRC the way the deflection stacking works is you get one active ability that appears when you mouse over deflection (like escape will replace mirror image while both active since 50 > 30), plus arcane veil. So while you have veil and some other deflection boost you can get it to +80 to +100 range. Arcane veil doesn't show up under deflection boost since it isn't universal, it's just against "non veil piercing" attacks which is generally everything but guns, and this is why it can stack with the universal deflection boosters. 

His grimoire has minor grimoire imprint, you can just permasteal escape if you want to spam it a lot btw. Beina has it as well as various skaenite priests.

Items you give him aren't hugely important, I guess he should start casting with a shield (lethandria's devotion is good) before you summon the lance. Squid's grasp is good so he isn't flanked in the meantime. His default armor is fine and the +AOE works with the lance. Can give him devil of caroc bp if you want him tankier. He shouldn't be getting hit too much though and has healing from the gloves so he is fine in robes, high harbinger robes are nice for the damage and attack speed boost, spider silk for the immunities. Other items are hard to say exactly what you should give him because other party members may need particular items more, but just give him +INT stuff mostly then +PER, ring of prosperity's fortune goes well on spellblade aloth, footprints of ahu taka will enhance attack speed and healing from the gloves but boots of the stone are also fine (there's up to 3 pairs of these boots, eamund the fox has one, you can buy one at RDC HQ, and you can buy one from port maje unique items vendor). Helm of the white void helps him land rogue abilities, if solo i'd use cap of the laughingstock but you probably don't want to debuff friendlies' deflection. Thaos' headdress is actually pretty good and keeps in character, assuming he starts with this. I like upright captain's belt so he can use pull of eora without getting sucked in.

EDIT - I checked and escape does not stack with arcane veil. Escape, llengrath's displaced image, mirrored image etc. are all "active abilities" so only the largest deflection modifier applies. However, llengrath's safeguard once triggered gives +20 all defenses and +5 armor, and the +20 all defenses is considered "passive" for some reason and does stack with these other abilities, hence arcane veil / escape + llengrath's safeguard = + 70 deflection, +50 fort/reflex/will, +5 armor, and the 30% deflection/reflex hit to graze conversion and +20 reflex from llengrath's displaced image still apply (so actually +70 deflection +50 fort/will +70 reflex and 30% hit to graze deflection/reflex). I also tested how much escape I could get out of one wall of draining, and hitting four enemies I got about +90s, so you should be able to keep up escape or arcane veil + llengrath's safeguard + llengrath's displaced image for a decently long time, making aloth pretty dang hard to hit. 

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22 hours ago, Dalinoth said:

I am playing with the Community Patch, Enhanced UI and Berath's Blessings.  My MC is a Bow wielding Ghost Heart/Helwalker.  Given what you just said, how do I tweak Eder for a riposte build please?  In addition, what other companions would you suggest please?

@Dalinoth since Boeroer answered the first part rather well, I'll just address the second

Since your MC is ranged I'd want 2, perhaps 3 tanks - Eder for first, Aloth can be the second as a battlemage, or you could hunt down Rekke and use him as brute, Pallegina can also fulfill this role 

You want some kind of healer/support char, possibly two. Pick among Tekehu, Pallegina, Xoti, and Ydwin. 

You also want a caster. Pick among Aloth, Tekehu, Ydwin, Xoti

One character can wear multiple hats (Aloth, Tekehu, Ydwin, Pallegina) so in your case I'd take this party

Eder as fighter/rogue as a decent tank and does good damage

Aloth as wizard/fighter is an excellent tank and can cast offensive spells when needed

Tekehu as stormspeaker/watershaper can cast druid support spells like nature's balm, moonwell, etc., cast offensive spells like returning storm, and provide constant healing with ancient memory (particularly if also chanting Mercy and Kindness which gives +50% healing), can buff your party with each kill fed his fury and set to their purpose, and finally he has some crazy powerful offensive invocations

Ydwin as pure cipher - give her a high DPS bow like Essence Interrupter / Frostseeker, and/or The Red Hand, she builds focus fast and provides a lot of support, can heal with pain block, enhance your tanks' engagement by +3 with tactical meld, debuff enemies with psychovampiric shield, secret horrors, phantom foes, can break concentration and give your party resolute with echoing shield, can CC with mental binding and charm/dominate spells, and finally can hand out brilliant with ancestor's memory. Can also do huge single target damage with recall agony, disintegration and death of 1000 cuts. We go pure cipher to get these spells faster but also because as single class she gets some great tier 8/9 spells like time parasite, reaping knives, and probably the best is defensive mindweb, which finds the highest defense in each role (deflection/fort/reflex/will) and gives it to your entire party, it is insanely good. AND she gets shared nightmare as pure cipher, which will make the AOEs on her spells cover most of the screen, so e.g. she can immobilize everyone with mental binding, can easily mindweb your whole party, can give the whole party resolute, interrupt whole screen with silent scream, etc. 

You could sub Pallegina as herald for Tekehu if you wanted, though with Ydwin's tactical meld and defensive mindweb, two tanks is quite sufficient. Main benefit of Pallegina is she can summon things, also can hand out exhortations, and as paladin is pretty tanky herself, but I prefer Tekehu because there are some really good druid support spells, plus I just like him better, and if you subbed pallegina you wouldn't have as much spellcasting available. Could also sub Pallegina for Aloth as a more straightforward tank and take two chanters, but Aloth does significantly more damage with citzal's spirit lance compared to pallegina

I like Xoti but she is hard to fit here because you really want two tanks, you really want a chanter, and that just leaves Ydwin and I'd rather have a cipher than a priest but if you wanted to not use sidekicks you could take Xoti instead of Ydwin, and I'd run her as pure priest or transcendent

There are actually a lot of valid party compositions, the important thing is you have sufficient support for various roles (damage, healing, support, tanking), so there's no "best" party but I like the one I outlined and also these alternatives

So TLDR - Eder/Aloth/Tekehu/Ydwin (my first choice), or Eder/Aloth/Pallegina/Ydwin (second choice), or Eder/Aloth/Tekehu/Xoti (no sidekicks choice)

Edited April 27, 2023 by Shai Hulud

[Kaylon]

13 hours ago, Boeroer said:

He is and was totally fine for lots of my party runs as the only tank. 

Of course you can do it, but that doesn't mean it's his best role or that he's the best tank. 

15 hours ago, Dalinoth said:

I am playing with the Community Patch, Enhanced UI and Berath's Blessings.  My MC is a Bow wielding Ghost Heart/Helwalker.  Given what you just said, how do I tweak Eder for a riposte build please?  In addition, what other companions would you suggest please?

If you want a party made only of companions then you don't have many choices - Watcher, Eder, Aloth, Xoti and you add the fifth companion depending on the faction.

A riposte build for Eder means he's the main tank and will require strong healing/CC at least until he gets Unbending. For items you have to stack deflection as much as possible - Gladiator Sword, Cadhu Scalth, Cloak and Bracers of greater Deflection, Casità Samelia's Legacy/Nomad's Brigandine, Champion's Helm, Token of Faith, Ring of Minor Deflection, Entonia Signet Ring, Boots of the Stone. You're basically forced to pick Tekehu as healer/support and your party will require more micromanaging with him and Aloth.

[Boeroer]

2 hours ago, Kaylon said:

Of course you can do it, but that doesn't mean it's his best role or that he's the best tank. 

Right. It only wanted to spell out that he can be a viable main tank. 

  

2 hours ago, Kaylon said:

A riposte build for Eder means he's the main tank and will require strong healing/CC at least until he gets Unbending. [...] 

Hm, usually I don't need strong healing to support him (although I prefer to have it) - and I don't even pick Unbending because I don't need it for him either. I picked it a few times at the beginning but at some point realized that I rarely activate it in the first place. That made it feel like a waste of an ability point. It also competes with Edérs other active abilities for Discipline... and I have to say Discipline is pretty scarce at most times for my Edér. I make use of Gouging Strike because it is great in the earlier game against overleveled high AR enemies (Steelclads for example) and I also use quite some Discipline for Into the Fray. It can be pretty fun bc. it has instant casting time and 0 recovery, so you can draw in a lot of enemies into engagement in no time - with a little bit of damage. Sometimes I even spam Into the Fray just to kill a particular enemy asap (like those a**holes who try to abduct party members - which to me is just a huge annoyance). So everything that also needs Discipline and isn't needed too often is a bit unattractive for me (even if it's a good ability when you need it). 
I also don't feel forced to take Tekehu. I like him over Maia and Pallegina, but I don't pick him because I feel that Edér cannot survive without him.
Since my Edér is maxing Athletics bc. of Cadhu Scalth he has a potent second wind for emergency situations. And then Xoti's few healing spells (I like to use Iconic Projection) would usually be enough to help him stay alive after he gained some more levels. I don't even use consumables like healing potions (besides food for resting). I do make use of strong CC though and that of course helps a lot. But it seems that with Cadhu Scalth's and Death's Maw's damage reduction is enough to reduce the incoming damage enough so that his Constant Recovery + Second Wind is sufficient in most fights. If I also have Lay on Hands in the party then I often don't even need Xoti for healing.

As I said I use Riposte with a large shield + club setup - not with dual wielding or two handers or so - mainly as a tool for distributing Bewildering Blows (club modal) around him. Basically as a nice-to-have addition to the Persistent Distraction, not as dps improvement (although it does improve dps of course, but that's not really what I'm looking for).

That being said: that is true for all content except the Megabosses. I usually skip them because I find the fights against them pretty annoying nowadays.
For those few fights my Edér is def. not tanky enough and cannot withstand them for a very long time without hefty support.

      

Edited April 27, 2023 by Boeroer

[Kaylon]

7 hours ago, Boeroer said:

And then Xoti's few healing spells (I like to use Iconic Projection) would usually be enough to help him stay alive after he gained some more levels. 

If Xoti is a priest... But since @Dalinoth asked how to play Xoti as a SC monk, I assumed he has no other healers.