Konstanten builds

[SenSx]

Hello,

 

I would like to try out Konstanten, but I want to make him unique compare to the other companions available.

I am hesitating between pure chanter or Howler.

What works best, is the most fun or unique for you ?

 

I guess he needs high crit chances to benefits his skald subclass.

What is the best way for that ?

Does barbarian help him for that ?

Is the dragon summon worth it as pure chanter, even with skald +1 phase cost for summon ?

 

Thanks

 

 

 

[Boeroer]

Hi,

I like to use him as Howler (Debuffer) with a Morning Star because the synergies of both classes plus the weapon modal are great:

• Spirit Frenzy (Barbarian) applies the Staggered affliction (-5 MIG, cannot engage) to ALL hit rolls from the Barbarian. This includes chants, Carnage hits and of course all weapon hits. Stagger lowers Fortitude by 10 points (-5 MIG directly leads to -10 fortitude because every point of MIG grants 2 points of fortitude defense)
• Th Long Night's Drink (phrase, Chanter) applies the Sickened affliction (-5 CON, -25% healing received) to all enemies in th chant AoE that don't get missed. If this chant hits it also applies Staggered via Spirit Frenzy. -5 CON directly leads to -10 Fortitude which stacks with Body Blows' (see below) and Staggered's Fortitude debuff. Enemies' fortitude can now be dropped by 45 points.
• Body Blows (Morning Star modal) lowers enemies' fortitude by 25. If you hit with the weapon you aill also apply Staggered via Spirit Frenzy (if not already staggered).
• All those effects stack so that the enemies' Fortitude can be lowered by 45(!) points without any fuss: just hit them with the Morning Star, the rest is done on the fly (and in an AoE) without you having to actively do anything.
• Brute Force (Barbarian passive) targets Fortitude if it's lower than deflection. There are few enemies which have 45 higher fortitude than deflection - so you almost always have it easier to hit or crit enemies. 
• Use the Morning Star "Saru Sichr": It is optainable quite early and has a "hidden" feature. Its poison damage-over-time effect does a spearate hit roll every time you strike. This hit roll targets fortitude and it can crit. So with this weapon you have two chances for a weapon crit with just one swing. That increases the chance to get a phrase point for the Skald.
• You can alternatively use the Morning Star "Will Breaker" later because it also debuffs Will defense on hit - but is doesn't have that neat "double hit roll" which leads to more phrase generation. 
• Konstanten's INT is only 10 which isn't ideal for his AoEs and durations as a debuffer so I make sure to give him +INT gear.
• On top of that a Skald has very cheap "Her Revenge" invocation which stays great through the game. In combination with Blood Thirst you can really wreck mobs with this. 
• You can later use "The CHampion" invocation to become energized and interrupt with all crits (from chants etc. too). So if you crit with the chant and this triggers the Spirit Frenzy's stagger (which might crit) you can interruot twice with one chant's hit roll for example. This can mess enemy casters up pretty badly. 
• Konstanten has a funny laugh when he crits. So the more he crits the more often you will hear his infectuous laughter. It is paired very well with the noble voice for a male player character - because that voice also does have a laught that fits Konstanten's. I once had a moble-voiced Monk who crit a lot and Konstanten as Howler and I was laughing a lot in front of my PC when those two did a lot of crits in some mob fights.  

The Dragon summon is nice as a tank - but IMo it's not worth going SC Skald. Eld Nary's Curse though might be a reason: it's pretty cheap for a Skald and the upgrade is noticably more powerful than the base version.    

[Constentin Lévine]

13 hours ago, Boeroer said:

Th Long Night's Drink (phrase, Chanter) applies the Sickened affliction (-5 CON, -25% healing received) to all enemies in th chant AoE that don't get missed. If this chant hits it also applies Staggered via Spirit Frenzy. -5 CON directly leads to -10 Fortitude which stacks with Body Blows' (see below) and Staggered's Fortitude debuff. Enemies' fortitude can now be dropped by 45 points.

Actually the chant is also lowering might by 2, stackable with might affliction of course, so -4 fortitude on top!

[SenSx]

Oh wow, you completely sold me on this.

I love this game , there are so many synergies and possibilities.

 

Konstentan Howler with this build it is then !

What would be his alternate weapon then ? A two handed sword or escoc ? (not as good as the morning star, but in cas he needs another type of damage)

 

Thanks for the advices, I think I will come back for more on my team and builds 

Happy Merry Christmas btw 

 

Edited December 25, 2023 by SenSx

[Boeroer]

2 hours ago, SenSx said:

What would be his alternate weapon then ? A two handed sword or escoc ? (not as good as the morning star, but in cas he needs another type of damage)

Morning Star has crush and pierce damage (uses the most advantageous against the enemy armor automatically) and also very good base Penetration of 9. So you seldomly need a backup weapon. Also the debuffing effect of Body Blows always works, even if the enemies are totally immune to the Morning Star's damage.

But in the rare cases you might need a backup weapon I would pick one that does slash damage since that is the one the Morning Star doesn't cover. Also it should be a two-handed weapon because you will most likely pick Two-Handed Style at some point. For me personally that leaves Great Sword and Pollaxe. I woul pick Pollaxe because you can get Lord Darryn's Voulge (a soulbound Pollaxe) quire early if you wish. It has slash and shock(!) damage instead of crush so it's a perfect altenative to the Morning Star. And there are several enemies who are especially vulnerable to shock damage. Also the Soulbound makes the weapon scale and enchant without any resources (money, special gems and stuff) wich is great for a backup weapon. And finally the Voulge is a great weapon for a Barbarian in itself because its special additional lightning damage works with Carnage. It doesn't have the double hit feature for more crits though and no cool debuff effect like Body Blows.

The Howler Konstanten is not only doing okay in melee for himself - he's also a great debuffer for the party because lots of spells and other abilities target enemies' fortitude (see several good Cipher, Druid and Wizard spells for example) and Konstanten can help your party land more of those more reliably. 

The only thing at which a Howler isn't so good at is raising his own accuracy. The Brute Force/fortitude debuffing cycle does help a lot - but having a Priest with Blessing and Devotions is very helpful for Konstanten to hit and crit more early in the fight and start having more impact right away.   

2 hours ago, SenSx said:

Happy Merry Christmas btw 

Merry Christmas to you, too!  And to my other fellow forum members as well. Yay! Cooking some venison goulash for the whole family while I type basically... hope it tastes somewhat decent.  

Edited December 25, 2023 by Boeroer

[Kaylon]

The most unique build for Konstanten is howler equipped with Blightheart spamming Her Revenge... 

Edited January 2 by Kaylon

[Boeroer]

Yes, that's also very fun as Howler with Bloodlust. But he only has 10 base INT and that leads to a pretty small Her-Revenge cone - which is a little frustrating imo.

 

[Kaylon]

Yes, but you can take care of it - 5-6INT and 25% area of effect from items should be enough from behind your tanks.