Speed Kills

[Helz]

My 1st Envoy:

I played on Hard. He's built around melee combat and speed. All skill points are in Fighter and Ranger. 

Starting Attributes:

• Strength: 2
• Constitution: 2
• Dexterity: 3
• Perception: 1
• Intelligence: 0
• Resolve: 2

Ending Attributes (with gear bonuses):

• Strength: 7 (Base 5, +2 Kai's training)
• Constitution: 3
• Dexterity: 13 (Base 9, +2 Delver's Caution, +2 Wolf gloves)
• Perception: 8 (Base 3, +2 Ranga's Clarity, +3 Tranton Family Talisman)
• Intelligence: 6 (Base 0, +2 Yatzli's training, +2 Ranga's Clarity, +2 The Queen's Burden)
• Resolve: 10 (Base 8, +2 Giatta's training, +2 The Queen's Burden)

Ending gear:

• Armor: Vailian Breastplate (+20% movement speed)
• Weapon: Giant's Slumber (Titan's Bane and Vessel Slaying)
• Shield: Wind and Wave (+10% movement speed)
• Gloves: Wolf Gloves (+2 Dexterity)
• Boots: Tranton Family Greaves (+10% movement speed, +20% dodge distance)
• Amulet: Tranton Family Talisman (+3 Perception)
• Ring: Delver's Caution (+2 Dexterity, +15% parkour speed)
• Ring: Ranga's Clarity (+2 Perception, +2 Intellect)

Background: War hero

Skills:

I prioritized damage, stamina, and just enough survivability. Ranger's Scavenger is important for upgrading, and I'd take that as early as possible for any build.

The Charge skill was crucial and always on cooldown, but I left it at level 1 because I didn't want the increased range. I used it up close and when I missed it already took me way off course. Fun fact, it's possible to charge off the middle of a bridge into a river of lava and survive if you swim fast enough.

Fighter:

Level 1:

• Charge: Rank 1
• Armored Grace: Rank 2
• Constant Recover: Rank 1
• Toughness: Rank 1

Level 5:

• Devastating Criticals: Rank 3

Level 10:

• Unbreakable: Level 3

Level 15:

• Reflect
• Retribution: Rank 2

Level 20:

• Inspiring Triumph: Rank 2

Ranger:

Level 1:

• Survivalist: Rank 3
• Parry: Rank 2
• Evasive: Rank 1

Level 5:

• Piercing Thrusts: Rank 2
• Finesse: Rank 3
• Scavenger: Rank 2

Level 15:

• Critical Strike: Level 1

Level 20:

• Flurry of Blows: Rank 3

This build is pretty twitchy. He sprints into combat, weaves around enemies, and skewers the squishy ones before they know what hit them. He's constantly dodging and blocking when he's not attacking. Things can get downright dizzying when he has a bunch of food buffs active. Outside of combat, all that speed is great for exploration and parkour, too.

His history as a veteran of the Tall Grass worked out great and I stuck with the spear. It's quick, has long reach, and the power attack is a thrust that drives you forward. He's always moving, even in the middle of an attack. I upgraded the plain spear to superb before I found Giant's Slumber. This was the perfect weapon for the rest of the game because it adds high stun to power attacks and low stun is the main drawback of spears. He seemed like a scout, so he wore light armor until he found the Vailian Breastplate (medium).

This was fun and effective from the beginning. By midgame it was overwhelming. Early on, there isn't much room for error because he's got a small health pool and light armor. I quickly learned that running out of stamina was deadly, so Resolve became the #2 attribute. That worked out for roleplaying too, because he's not the brightest knife in the library. Yatzli rolls her eyes a lot when he's speaking. I gave him the +Intelligence gear so he could sort of grasp what the hell was happening, but for his decisions, he relied on faith.