SC Trickster; Looking for inspiration/tips&tricks/love(-bombing)!

[Lyran]

Looked but didn’t find a post that is niched like this, so here it goes...

Mr. Dunken, the mountain dwarf from the lands that lives lika a circus - like a roaring beast - like him, will tackle the archipelago. He is a self-taught Rogue, but has had the fortune to meet a proper mentor for his evolution into a Trickster. Nothing more, nothing less. He goes where his feets take him, as he always has, with a warm heart. With a drink in hand, he draws upon his tricks and stealthiness, in between his roaring! 

[Back in 2019 I made a wonderful playthrough and after a dozen character builds, that went various lenghts through the archipelago of Deadfire, I was done. Now, the wheels on the bus have gone round and round for a couple of years, and I'm back! I'm going for a full playthrough this time around agian. My plan is not to get stuck in the theory-crafting-experiment-circus again, haha.] 

So as the title says, I would be glad if you'd like to share inspiration, tips & tricks, maybe some love(-bombing) for the SINGLECLASS Trickster! 

Would like to keep this post away from comments like, "...BUT if you Multic...". Instead, more like: "You are going to have a blast with this and that...", "I would recommend that weapon, ability/skill, use that spell..." and so on.

This post is dedicated to bringing a positive focus on the SC Trickster from start to finish - for myself and others alike  

All the best! 

 

[Chaospread]

Hi, I can tell how I'd play a SC trickster.

You can get two powerful spells such as 

• Kalakoth's Freezing Rake
• Wall of Many Colors

And in addition Gaze of the Adragan and others with great effects since you can reach very high power level.
And you have also great defensive spells.

So I'd try to maximize debuff and buff duration and spell damage, and also chances to hit. Thus MIG, INT AND PER.
DEX is always good, but you can wear light armor.
But, you have penalty to sneak attack compared to other rogue, so you can "skip" the damage part and focus on debuff foes (and buff yourself).
So max PER, INT and DEX. Mid MIG, low RES and CON.
Occasionally cast Kalakoth's Freezing Rake on enemy with low freeze damage resistance.
Confusion with intellect afflictions weakness can give actual satisfaction

Wear items who give bonus to these stats or similar (i.e. grazes to hit chance for spells), I think you can help partu very well.

[Boeroer]

I never tried if Murderous Intent works with the Trickster's Kalakoth's Freezing Rake. Could be great if that worked. 

Eye of Wael for +2 PL, White Witch Mask +1, +1 from Prestige, +5 from the Empower and then +100% crit conversion and +100% crit damage against bloodied or worse enemies... Ouch.  

---

Could also see a SC Trickster maxing deflection and using Whispers of the Endless Paths w. Offensive Parry + Riposte and pick Wall of Flashing Steel (the first time I'd use that tbh).

Edited Thursday at 05:48 PM by Boeroer

[Lyran]

Awesome @Chaospread!! 

The spells is among my favorite to use, from level 1 to the finish line! 

How did you handle your Trickster on the battlefield? Did you sneak in to the enemies backline or did you keep yourself out of melee range? What weapon type did you favor? 

I'm aiming on going a "into-the-enemies-backline"-type of character, dual-wielding melee with occasinaly some blasters. A trickster with both the spells and weapons in hand, and utilize the shadows!  

Edited Friday at 05:04 AM by Lyran

[Chaospread]

You can play most of time as ranged debuffer with weapons such as Mechanical Marvel for interrupting up to 3 foes or Scourge of Bezzello (also interrupts but shots 3 missiles, so it is useful for interrupt an enemy with more chance and/or reduce quickly its concentration) and wands with their modal for reduce enemy's accuracy (i.e. A Whale of a Wand). Before using weapon cast your debuff for sure

Occasionally you can act as a single target dealer "in the back line", cast your buffs, "shadow" and kill a single enemy with Marux Amanth when he is near death; Lover's Embrace and Rust's Poignard can be useful too. You can "disable" and or nuke an enemy with your trickster's abilities, or you can hit with two weapons or one great two-handed weapon, better of all weapons which have a modal that reduce enemy defences like flails, clubs or morningstars, it depends on what you wanna cast. Or sabres, battle axes and other two-handed weapons.
You have also Gouging Strike

Remember that damage from stealth/invis is higher with two-handed weapons (IIRC).

Or you can nuke enemies in AoE with Kalakoth's Freezing Rake, and Murderous Intent if it works as @Boeroer said. You can take some of others "empowering" abilities, Potent Empower first of all, but also Accurate Empower, Penetrating Empower, but don't choose them instead of trickster's "spells" ;

Riposte with trickster's defenses is also a way to play the character as already said by Boeroer.

He can be also a spellcaster-like character with deep pockets, high arcana, many scrolls (that can be used with deathblows and its upgrades!) and trickster's spells

Wear light armor for speed (you have all your tricks for defense), i.e. Robes of the Weyc if you shot many empowered abilities or that one you prefer.

I think you can experiment and possibly respec

[Kaylon]

I see the trickster as someone using many "surprises" and illusions, which can translate to procs/effects and illusion spells, combined with a bit of swashbuckling. Ring of Clenched Muscle, The Magnificent Escape Cape, The Left Hand of the Obscured/Gatecrashers/Boltcatchers, Rakhan Field Boots are some good options. For weapons I would equip Kitchen Stove + Modwyr and Whispers of the Endless Paths for their abilities per encounter. For the regular weapons a mix of Scordeo's Edge, Gravecalling and Rust's Poignard works pretty well. For slash/pierce resistant enemies Ball and Chain, Endre's Flog of Obedience and Sungrazer can be used as backup.

Besides trickster's spells you could also use traps, poisons, bombs or scrolls to spice things up even more if needed, but the consumables tend to become tedious in the long run.

Edited 22 hours ago by Kaylon