Inquisitor (Paladin/Soulblade) or Holy Slayer (Paladin/Trickster) for Off-tank/DPS Paladin?

[walshcon]

Hi guys, I'm in between a couple of multiclass options for my upcoming run of Deadfire where I plan to play an off-tank paladin who can still put out some decent damage on the front line. I would really like to make use of WoTEP and its offensive parry ability, and I know both of these multiclass options have the ability to do so, but I'm just not sure which would end up performing better long term. I'd love to hear what your guys' experience with these multiclass options has been, and if anyone has suggestions for a decent Paladin subclass for either of these builds, that would be appreciated too! 

[Boeroer]

Hello and welcome!

I was about to say "Soublade/Trickster" because that would be my favoire combination of the mentioned classes. 

Imo Paladin/Soulblade can be much more versatile than Paladin/Trickster and it has potentially unlimited resources (focus). But it takes more time to develop, the Trickster is a little bit more front-loaded - and Riposte + Offensive Parry stack which can be cool. If you ignore the rest of the Cipher powers (besides Borrowed Insticts) and only use Soul Annihilation it also might become a bit boring, too. I personally would pick the Soulblade I think.

Paladin subclasses: for tanking purposes I like Goldpact Knight who can can sort-of unlimited +4 AR because Sword Rival gives you back the Zeal you paid for the Golden Enmity as soon as the Rival is killed. I also like Steel Garrote because Offensive Parry does an automatic daze and that unlocks the health-draining passive of the Steel Garrote. It's even better with Trickster+Persistent Distraction: every Riposte/Offensive Parry and other melee attacks will drain health which stacks with stuff like Exalted Endurance and so on. But most players have a problem with playing a not so kind Paladin subclass. Goldpact at least has no problem with being nice - as long as he keeps a cool head.  

From a role-playing perspective I think Darcozzi + Trickster fits very well. Also the Darcozzi Fireshield isn't bad for off-tanking. 

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If you are open to other multiclass pairings for this Whispers of the Endless Paths Paladin I can recommend Steel Garrote/Bloodmage (Arcane Knight) which has some great tricks up its sleeves in combination with that weapon and some other items. 

Forbidden Fist as second class to a Goldpact or Steel Garrote with WotEP/Offensive Parry can also work well. With the Community Patch mod I'd also recommend Shattered Pillar instead of Forbidden Fist.

 

Edited January 27 by Boeroer

[walshcon]

Hi Boeroer, thanks for the response!

I am not opposed to playing a Steel Garrote, it sounds like it would fit well with what I would like to do on this run. I should have noted I will be playing on POTD with the community patches installed so a bit of optimization is more than welcome.

Soulblade sounds like an excellent direction since I plan to have Eder and Maia also be multiclass rogues. Everyone being a rogue would be a bit weird at a certain point. 

As far as attributes go, what would your recommendation be on stat priority to stay relevant DPS-wise but not become glacially slow or too fragile? To get offensive parry to trigger, I imagine RES needs to be pretty high, along with some added deflection gear. I'd love to have more MIG for weapon damage and healing, but I wasn't sure about dumping DEX to slow my action speed to a crawl for soul annihilation casting.   

[Boeroer]

I think a crazy minmaxing approach would not be fitting when it comes to attributes.

What's really frustrating with Soul Annihilation is that if you miss the attack all your  focus will be consumed anyway. That's not a problem later in the game with all the buffs and gear improvement etc. - but at the begining it can hamper your experience with a Soulblade. So I suggest not to drop PER too much - or use a single weapon for the first levels. 

I also wouldn't drop DEX too low as you said. Being super sluggish (especially with thicker armor and no class abilities to really speed you up) isn't much fun as well. 

MIG doesn't need to be superhigh imo. 

RES gives increasing returns for your deflection (and of course also shortens hostile effects' duration on you) - and if you want to emphasize the Offensive Parry and make it a central part of the build you need every point of melee deflection you can get. That includes RES and abilities but also items such as Cape, Bracers, rings and also armor. There are some armors that grand deflection bonuses, like Casita Samelia's Legacy (requires to max the Intimidate skill which fits a Steel Garrote imo), Gipon Prudensco (also can add an immunity to getting flanked iirc which is like a +10 deflection /+1 AR advantage against mobs) and Nomad's Brigandine (like Gipon Prudensco can also have an immunity vs. disengagement attacks which can be used to force melee misses when disengaging which leads to Offensive Parties). 

I wouldn't drop CON because you will still be hit by ranged attacks, spells and the occasional lucky roll - and also your fortitude defense shouldn't be too low. But it doesn't need to be high either. 

INT is of course important for aura range, durations and cipher powers. Also for the size of the WotEP cone. If it's too small it's not as much fun in combination with Soul Annihilation.

So all in all a quite balanced distribution of attribute points I would say. 

[walshcon]

That's what I was thinking too. How does 8/8/8/12/18/19 sound? I'm not sure if I should swap those PER and INT values around. I know there are some pretty sweet INT necklaces that could work, but I don't know of many PER ones.  I have the Berath blessing for extra stats so that the 8's become 10's and then I know there are plenty of stat boosting necklaces and belts to choose from for MIG and CON. 

Currently I was thinking Helm of the Falcon to help speed up my attack with WoTEP Abraham for the recovery bonus, heal on kill and Cutthroat Cosmo for his recovery bonus, and firearms damage for Maia (Eder bonus). Casita Samelia's Legacy sounds like it would work very well because I plan on going intimidation-heavy on this character, with Pellagina picking up the slack on the diplomacy side of things. 

Are there any rings or boots I should be looking for this kind of build? I know the Ring of Chameleon is a pretty popular pickup along with Kuaru's Prize. As far as boots go, Boots of Stone seems to pop up pretty frequently as a recommendation for Paladin builds.

[Boeroer]

18 hours ago, walshcon said:

That's what I was thinking too. How does 8/8/8/12/18/19 sound? 

With Berath's Blessing +2 to all attributes that's fine I think.

18 hours ago, walshcon said:

Are there any rings or boots I should be looking for this kind of build? I know the Ring of Chameleon is a pretty popular pickup along with Kuaru's Prize. As far as boots go, Boots of Stone seems to pop up pretty frequently as a recommendation for Paladin builds.

Entonia Signet Ring (but it only works if enemies engage you, not the other way round) is a good ring for defense if you go into melee
- and yeah, Boots of the Stone.

Edited January 29 by Boeroer