Soul blade question

[Garuruga]

Hello!

Since i read about soul annihilation my neurons activated so i want to make a melee soul blade for a POTD upscaled + all dlc run, i have never played the last 2 DLC 

I have some question on how to go about It

1) Is single class worth it? I imagine the higher max focus would be nice but i see a lot of people talk about MC, specially with rogue or monk and also, if i would simply use SA and little else, SC seems like a waste, what can be done with MC? 

2) stat wise, per and dex seemed like a no brainer, +acc and speed are always good but what about might? Should i leave it at 14-15 or heavily invest into it? Same deal with int

3) regardless of SC or MC, what else would you recommend from the active abilities of the cipher? I was thinking borrowed insticts for the acc and honestly, little else seemed worth it

4) i also would like to make use of seekers fang (eventually) so it got me thinking about using one handed style, for single enemy boss fights al least, maybe magistrate cudgel could work? Stuns on crit seems good

Sorry if im rambling or being to vague and as always thanks a lot for the help!

 

 

 

[Boeroer]

1 hour ago, Garuruga said:

Hello!
[...]
1) Is single class worth it?

Hi!
In short: no. There are a few edge cases and build ideas where it might be good (pairing Shared Nightmares with an AoE weapon such as Whispers of the Endless Paths and using Reaping Knives on party members to be able to spam Soul Annihilation all the time) - but in general a multiclass is just better over the course of the game.

1 hour ago, Garuruga said:

if i would simply use SA and little else, SC seems like a waste, what can be done with MC?

 The gist of it is that SA damage scales with all kinds of damage bonuses. That's what makes the Rogue a popular choice. Forst of all the Rogue makes it easier to harvest focus because the weapon dps is high - and then secondly the Rogue's damage bonuses apply to the SA dmg itself, improving it quite a bit. Soulblade/Streetfighter has the highest damage potential. Soulblade/Trickster is a great mix of offense and defense. 

Soulblade/Fighter can harvest a lot focus immediately with Clear Out. Especially when using Whispers of the Endless Paths. 

Soulblade/Monk is nice in combination with Tuotilo's Palm and the Sun & Moon Flail. The flail's double head dumps the SA-raw-damage with the first flail head and already regains focus with the second flail head. This can lead to a situation where you can gain enough focus per flail head to spam SA without pause. It's a primary attack so the bashing shield won't even be used for bashing, but the dual wielding speed bonus will still apply. And at the same time the shield grants amazing defensive bonuses for a monk. The INT and MIG bonus (when Helwalker) are great for Cipher spells, too. But when you really want to focus on SA I'd say the Soulblade/Rogue combo is better. Tuotilo's Palm + Sun & Moon also works very well with a Soulblade/Trickster btw.

Another very good combination is Soulblade/Bloodmage. The synergies aren't very clear at first, but SA works very well with all AoE weapons. The Bloodmage has Citzal's Spirit Lance - and the means to raise his INT (Infuse with Vital Essence) for bigger weapon AoE. Also the Wall of Draining lets him keep all his buffs for a long, long time (includes Soulblade's +10 max focus on kill).

I personally also like Barbarian/Soulblade because the high attack speed from Frenzy and Bloodlust and the overall decent damage bonuses (Blooded, One Stands Alone, higher MIG during Frenzy) leads to good SA damage. Then later the combination of being able to kill quickly with SA & triggering Blood Thirst is quite satisfying. Human Berserker/Soulblade can reach bloodied status quickly which triggers Blooded and Fighting Spirit. But it is also risky. 

1 hour ago, Garuruga said:

2) stat wise, per and dex seemed like a no brainer, +acc and speed are always good but what about might? Should i leave it at 14-15 or heavily invest into it? Same deal with int

If you use an AoE weapon (Whispers otEP, Spirit Lance) INT is crucial. Else not as important as it usually is with ciphers - if you want to concentrate on soul annihilation. Still: stuff like Borrowoed Instincts lasts a lot longer if you have hig INT. If it lasts longer you have to cast it less often. And that gives you more focus to dump into SA.

Might is not very important if you are multiclassing with Rogue since the dmg bonuses from the Rogue class are high enough that the bonus from MIG feels rel. small in comparison. If you pick non-Helwalker Monk or Bloodmage it's a more important source for dmg bonus for SA imo. 

1 hour ago, Garuruga said:

3) regardless of SC or MC, what else would you recommend from the active abilities of the cipher? I was thinking borrowed insticts for the acc and honestly, little else seemed worth it

If you go for Soulblade/Rogue it can be nice to have some cheap way to applying afflictions for a rel. long time in an AoE. Like Phantom Foes.
Lvl-1 Shred powers such as Mind Wave and Antipathetic Field are supercheap (5 focus) for a Soulblade. It can be more impactful to use Mind Wave/Antip. Field against a group of enemies for 5 focus than to spend at least 10 focus on a single enemy with SA (and do potential tremendous overkill -> wasting focus).

1 hour ago, Garuruga said:

4) i also would like to make use of seekers fang (eventually) so it got me thinking about using one handed style, for single enemy boss fights al least, maybe magistrate cudgel could work? Stuns on crit seems good

Might well be. Didn't try both myself on a Soulblade so I cannot really recommend anything here, sorry.  

 

Edited November 17 by Boeroer

[Garuruga]

SB/trickster seems like the way to go then (im weak to rogues) but the barbarian and the bloodmage sound really cool, maybe for future runs

the set up with whispers of the endless path is a high deflection, high res one right? I think i read about it but i dont know much else, id like to try it 

I will look more closely at the cheap cipher powers, i didnt really focused on the discount for the shred keyword but i like the idea

5 hours ago, Boeroer said:

Might well be. Didn't try both myself on a Soulblade so I cannot really recommend anything here, sorry.  

Dont worry about it, i will try it in some encounters and see whats happens, this was mostly because i think the style is cool

Unrelated but my last run was using your Arcane Archer/trobadour idea, was really surprised at how much it counters some really tough parts of the game, thanks a lot for that!

[Chaospread]

MID or even LOW RES. Cipher and especially trickster can pump deflection high without wasting point in RES.

[Kaylon]

While WotEP has the potential to passively restore your focus (using Offensive Parry), its main advantage is the ability to spread SA in AoE (which can become huge with all the rogue bonuses); its Run Through is also great for backstabs and refilling your focus instantly. Basically vs single enemies you should use Sun & Moon + Tuotilo's Palm, while vs multiple enemies you switch to WotEP. Later you can use replace Tuotilo's Palm with The Best Defense, add The Left Hand of the Obscured and have three sources of Terrify (which is just as good as Stun/Paralyze while also triggering occasional disengagement attacks).

Other weapons worth using, depending on the situation, are Grave Calling (Chill Fog proc will replenish your focus continuously), Voidwheel (can instantly refill your focus when it procs and is great for backstabing enemies at the start of the fight using No Quarter from Rakhan Field Boots), Engoliero do Espirs can also heal and replenish your focus with its proc.

[Okkes]

Rogue multiclass has bigger SA numbers overall, yes. But Forbidden Fist/Soul Blade combo has more DPS overall imo. 

 

 

[Boeroer]

1 hour ago, Okkes said:

Rogue multiclass has bigger SA numbers overall, yes. But Forbidden Fist/Soul Blade combo has more DPS overall imo. 

The Forbidden Fist ability doesn't generate focus without the Community Patch mod.

Edited Monday at 08:17 PM by Boeroer