Choosing a melee class to bro out with Eder in the deadfire.

[De_jesus]

Asking for opinions on a good melee class.

Role: Melee bromance with Eder. Just two melee bros meleeing across the deadfire with party in tow. Planning SC Wizard (Aloth), SC Priest (Xoti -> Vatnir), MC Assassin / Cipher (dubbed Freddy Kruger)

Stuck deciding between the following. And have been starting and restarting with each one.

Would love any thoughts:
- Hunter (Devoted/Stalker)
- Cleric (Wael/??)
- Brawler or Ravager (FF/Devoted or none)
- Wanderer (stalker/FF)
- Transcendent (FF/Beguiler or Soulblade)

Open to other options. Not looking to min-max. Been there; done that. Just want something fun for Veteran / Trial of Iron.

[Ivanfyodorovich]

Enfeeble on demand with FF is so good. Highly recommend one of those builds. Could theme Aedyran pike or great sword devoted w Helm of Falcon and DoC or Patinated. Some fun weapon options there. 

[De_jesus]

And I was thinking the same thing. I love Forbidden Fist. I'm usually trying to find a reason not to use it as a monk class. Greatsword options are abundant, especially with WoTEP because you can get it early.

[Boeroer]

I have two different suggestions:

1. Howler (Furyshaper/Troubadour) with a Pike (aiming for Ngati's Tusk, Morning Star such as Willbreaker as backup)? At least 10 INT and max out the Survival skill.
First of all it's easier to position if you are in (somewhat) confined spaces. The modal supports your own attack as well as Edérs. A Howler can be an excellent debuffer without actually having to do anything for the debuffing actively (aka wasting time better spent for poking things). You pick Spirit Frenzy (debuff enemies Fortitude by 10 on hit with Carnage and with chant hits), The Long Night's Drink (debuff Fortitude even further by another 10 points). With Ngati's Tusk you can lower enemies' defenses by more than 10 in an aura (autohit) if you enchant it with "Lord of the Hunt". With Willbreaker you can use Body Blows for -25 fortitude and -3 Will per hit. Once you can summon Fear Ward you do that, too. You use phraes for Ben Fidel's Neck (-10 to all defenses, stacks). Result is that enemies' defenses are really low, especially fortitude. That is great for Edér because his Knockdown and Clear Out target fortitude. Nice buddy synergy. Looks great as a Huana (Aumaua) with some fitting armor (Reckless Brigandine or one of the Hide armors). Also looks nice with Blackend Plate (add 1 or 2 other auto-hit auras) - almost like a Death Knight because Ngati's Tusk looks like pale bone while the armor is... well... quite black.  

2. Shepherd (Paladin/Ranger - Ghost Heart is most convenient with the positioning of the AC for Stalker's Link, Stalker is the most tanky one) with Blade of the Endless Paths. It's easy to position yourself with Evasive Roll.
It's a bit of a variant of my PoE1-build "Counselor Ploi" which was my best buddy for Edér in PoE1. It was focused on giving Edér (or anyother party member) the best possible accuracy boost. Here in Deadfire I use FoD + Ring of Focused Flame OR Accurate Wounding Shot (should my Zeal be low) for the sweet +20 ACC in combination with Zealous Focus (more ACC) and Marked Prey and Stalker's Link etc. in order to get really high ACC pretty early. I want to crit a lot because the Blade of the Endless Paths has an enchantment that causes -4 deflection on crit (stacks up to -20). At the same time the ACC of the Blade also goes up during the fight. Basically you "mark" the enemy with crits for your buddy Edér while you also will land a ton of crits with nice damage yourself. A bit like hammer and anvil... so maybe give Edér war hammers.
Of course a Paladin can heal well - which is always nice in the front line. This char looks very nice imo with Devil of Caroc's Breastplate and Helm of the Falcon. Proper MC looks if you ask me.   You'll need some backup weapon like a Pollaxe or so bc. of the Estoc's pierce-only dmg.    

This marking stuff also works well with a Geomancer (Wizard/Ranger), using the Essential Phantom in order to get two parallel marking stacks from the Blade otEP (then up to -40 deflection on the enemy) - but that is a lot of casting for a deflection debuff and it also gets crowded pretty quickly with an animal companion and a Phantom. It's also ACC/debuffing overkill in most cases. But you'll have the versatilty of a Wizard...           

Edited February 10 by Boeroer

[De_jesus]

That howler build is a phenomenal idea! I love it, and that's what I am going to do. I never would have thought of something like that, but it's got wonderful synergies within the build and the Eder. I do wonder if I have an NT in an old playthrough that I can just bring into my new game to get the build running earlier.

Plus, any build that uses Body Blows debuff well is usually a plus for me. The Shephard I may save for my next run. I love Paladin and Ranger, and never thought to put them together.

[Boeroer]

I think I have an exported character with only Ngati's Tusk somewhere if you need it. 

You can also export a "cheated" character and then edit the file (it's just a text file basically) and set the according boolean back to non-cheated - so that said character wouldn't disable achievements when imported. 

[De_jesus]

Just reporting in: super fun build. Took some time to get used to the first few levels.

Got overconfident in some early shipboarding, ran into a boat full of Goldpact Knights, and overestimated that one. Got taken down around level seven and was fighting level 8/9 Goldpacts. Two consecutive wipes as a martial character is new, I'll say that. But the build works extremely well with a druid in the party. +4 slash (Not felled by axe) & +5 pierce AR (woodskin) to open combat. My team was just very outnumbered, and it became a battle of attrition.

Trying again! Thought about swapping the barbarian class out with the arcane trickster for Ryngrim's visage, but I think I'll stay the course and give it another try.

Edited February 14 by De_jesus

[Chaospread]

On 2/10/2024 at 6:45 PM, Boeroer said:

The Long Night's Drink (debuff Fortitude even further by another 10 points).

14 points = 10 from weakened and 4 from -2 might