[CLASS BUILD] LAERNE - Pale Elf Wildrhymer (Beckoner / Ghost Heart), The "Summoner with Warm Heart and Cold Gaze"

[Chaospread]

Unconventional Wildrhymer based on summons and ranged damage

Hi all! 
Eventually, my second long-awaited build for PoeII Deadfire is finally here.

I don't remember exactly how this build was born in my head, but I thought about a young little woman pale elf with a lovely pet as a friend and a cute family in the White that Wends.
I don't know why, who, when and how, at some time her nice pet and her beatiful family were massacred by only gods know.
She became eager to help all the weak people in difficulty, she began to not tolerate the abuses of the strong and her spirit of revenge, together with the bond she had with her loved ones, 
became so strong that she learned to evoke the souls of her deceased loved ones and of her pet bear (Oëdenläff) to help her in her battles.

(Now follows a series of reasons for my choices) 

Spoiler

With this background in mind the choice was quite obvious: a character who summoned their loved ones and their battle beast as spirits of deceased loved ones, hence a Wildrhymer.
Now, if you wanted to have a badass Wildrhymer, you should do a Troubador / Arcane Archer, but I wanted to do a different build than usual and then the story of my character obviously led to having a Beckoner / Ghost Heart. 
Ghost Heart is obvious: a ranger who summons his animal, in my case the spirit of my dear friend the bear who died slaughtered in front of me. Why bear? Here too, many people may choose other animals, 
being a pale ice elf the bear seemed adequate to me and then as a playstyle the pet and the summons of the beckoner had to serve to tank and shield my character while she killed the enemies with ranged weapons; 
therefore a sturdy pet like the bear was optimal - and it is large also. 
Then you'll say: but even as a Troubador you could summon your loved ones massacred in battle... yes but everyone does the Troubador, the summoner par excellence is (as the name says) the Beckoner 
and even if he has been nerfed too much (at the beginning he was truly devastating, now I wouldn't give him the +1 sentence malus for the summons, they already have half the hit points... oh well) 
having SIX animated weapons at your side do you know how much harm they do? Or having SIX skeletons tank that (bug?) when they die are reborn and you can summon another SIX for a total of TWELVE? It has its reasons
You will also say that the Ghost Heart makes no sense: to summon the pet you need bond and among other things as a chanter you can resurrect it for free in practice. Here too, apart from the fact that it fit perfectly with the character's background, there are advantages to having the pet summoned when needed and not always available:
    1. I don't like the rangers' animals: if I could I would play without. Therefore having a ranger without a pet is a plus for me;
    2. every now and then I move better without the animal around. It is true that it does not count for stealth and it is as if it were not there: but I see it, it is there, it takes away a bit of suspension of disbelief!
    3. Playing SOLO I am still used to not having other characters underfoot so "he" would still bother me and every now and then I would have to move him here and there: better without in this case too;
    4. hey, in any case the Ghost Heart pet has an advantage: it is immune to engagement! It may seem like little but in certain fights it can be useful to have him distract a boss without anyone being able to stop him while you take care of the minions;
    5. in any case it is a very fast summon: I usually summon him at the beginning of the battle as the first tank, then if he dies I almost never summon him again, since I have the other summons of the chanter. Therefore it is not that many bonds are wasted.

I am not saying that the Ghost Heart is better than the other rangers (on the contrary!) but I liked it, it fit the character and in some cases the pet bonus is underestimated

Anyway, I completed the entire game, all bosses and megabosses WITHOUT ANY CHEESE (or at least very little) (watch the videos below), SO THE BUILD IS PRETTY POWERFUL AND END OF STORY!

After all this rant, here's the build: I hope you like it!

Pale Elf Wildrhymer (Beckoner / Ghost Heart) - The "Summoner with Warm Heart and Cold Gaze"

"Be careful: I'm not as alone as I seem..." - Laerne's warning to ill-intentioned people

Name: Laerne

PoTD/SOLO/ULTIMATE: YES - You can beat all contents, also all Mega Bosses ( and without too much cheese )

Game Version: ver. 5.0.0.0040 with all FREE DLCs and all DLCs ("Beast of Winter", "Seeker, Slayer, Survivor" and "The Forgotten Sanctum" plus "Mega Boss Battles")

Race: Elf (+1 DEX, +1 PER)

Subrace: Pale Elf (Elemental Endurance: +4 Burn Armor Rating, +4 Freeze Armor Rating). Almost any other choice would have been better, made only for RPG purposes

Classes: Wildrhymer - Beckoner (+1 Bluff, History, Arcana, Sleight of Hand and Diplomacy) / Ghost Heart (+1 Diplomacy, Survival, Alchemy, Stealth and Bluff)

Culture: The White that Wends (+1 PER). It's my RPG culture and besides, +1 PER is perfect.

Background: Mystic (+1 Arcana, Metaphysics and Religion). A summoner of ancient spirits seems good as a mystic, and bonus to Arcana and Metaphysics is good for us

Pose: Pious (To connect more with the spirits and pray for them to manifest ;P)

Berath's Blessing: NONE

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Attributes: base (with permanent effects collected through the run)

Mig: 10 (10)

Con: 6 (6)

Dex: 18 (20, +1 as Elf, +1 Cauldron Brew)

Per: 18 (20, +1 as Elf, +1 The White that Wends)

Int: 18 (18)

Res: 5

I like to MAX INT, DEX and PER attributes often for my characters, but in this case there are also valid reasons to do that. 
INT is essential for the range of phrases, for the duration and range of skills and especially summons; PER is always important in SOLO (to discover hidden objects) but as a Ranger it can be lowered a little; DEX as a Chanter is not important if it is maxed out but as a Ranger it increases DPS a lot and is still good for speeding up spells and summons.
MIG is less important for DPS (I use PER and DEX for that and summons do a lot of damage) but I don't want to dump it, also because it is needed for STR and healing (even if this can be increased quite easily).
I don't want to dump CON and RES either, with low scores as you play easily, wanting to bring the skills to 7 or 8 you can take away some points from PER and DEX if you want.

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Skills score

There are no particular reasons to use one or the other of the skills, during the game I MAXED Arcana a few times because with high PER certain scrolls are devastating - see for instance these "Storm of Holy Fire" damages against Hauani O Whe:

Alchemy to be able to increase the effect of drugs and potions to a great extent and Metaphysics for the effects of certain objects (Essence Interrupter );  
the latter, in addition to being very useful, is also perfectly relevant to the character
For hard battles (i.e. Megabosses) you need often specific skills: see the videos below.

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Abilities

I respeced and experimented many times through the run, so I'll do a resume of how I'd do the build now, after my run: which skills have I used most often and which have been the most useful.
For hard battles (i.e. Megabosses) you need specific build: see the videos below.

Level 1

Beckoner (free)
Invocations summon twice the number of creatures.
The chanter's summons are smaller and have half their normal health.
Summon Invocations cost +1 Phrases.
Nothing special here, half health is not a great problem with healing, +1 Phrases is a heavy drawback but we can use more times early level summons but DOUBLE creatures is insane sometimes

Ghost Heart (free)
Immune to Bonded Grief.
Animal Companion is immune to Engagement.
Must actively summon Animal Companion during battle (costs Bond and has a duration of 30.0 sec).
Companion is considered a Spirit and is affected by Spirit-targeting powers.
Animal Companion cannot be healed (Unable to learn both Heal Pet and Revive Pet abilities).
As I said, I pick GH above all for charcater history and because I like playing LITERALLY SOLO, but for the sake of analysis my considerations follow.
No Bonded Grief is pleasant, nothing disatrous but nice to have.
Immune to Engagement: also said before, it is good having the AC run to one foe and keep him busy with no time wasted - underrated ability.
You must summon your AC: bad thing because you waste bonds for it, but this build doesn't need many bonds, summon is very fast and with high INT it lasts a very long time.
Companion is a Spirit: I never noticed it, not actually a drawback.
AC cannot be healed: ROTFL, we heal as a Chanter: not a drawback.

Bear Companion: picked above all for RPG purpose (I like the idea of a little Pale Elf Woman friend of a White Bear) but Bear is tanky with +2 AR and is larger than other AC, thus he can block better the foes in some situations.

If their Bones Still Slept Under that Hill, None Can Say
I picked up "The Thunder Rolled Like Waves on Black Seas" to keep foes away, but if I started again I'd choose "If their Bones Still Slept Under that Hill, None Can Say" because 6 skeletons help a lot and its upgrade is useful late game, too.

Come, Come Soft Winds of Death
Not so much to choose here, but you need a Phrase and "Come, Come Soft Winds of Death" at least is a healing source early levels, but it is not so effective and it losts value late game.

Marked Prey
No brain. +10 ACC versus a foe is huge late, mid and end game.

Weapon Proficiencies
Dagger (Parrying Blade some defense when we are forced in melee.
Hunting Bow (Rapid Shot we have high ACC so we can increase DPS a lot with more speed.

Level 2

Arms Bearer
More choices, more chances of damage, more fun!

Level 3

The Thunder Rolled Like Waves on Black Seas
Ok, eventually I pick this one. Not much else better and a source of Stunned in AoE with few bonds is always appreciated and it can save your back also late game.
Alternative: Fast Runner, but you can increase stride also with equip.

Level 4

Two-Handed Style
I used ah huge amount of tow-handed ranged weapons, so this is obvious.

Marksman
+5 ACC almost always. Nothing else to say.

WP: Pistol (Rushed Reload)
Same speech made with the hunting bow AND it is important for Eccea's Arcane Blaster

Level 5

Shot on the Run
Gunner can be better, but we are often using also bows, so Shot on the Run seems a better choice.

Level 6

Gernisc Slew the Beast, but Soon Faced Its Kin
Six ranged wurms with fire attack can do the difference in many situations.

Level 7

Ancient Brittle Bones
Six skeletons who died and splits in twelve, and the latter don't count as summon total? Oh yeah - tanky funky
And if they don't make huge damage, 12 or more little skeletons who hit a foe, count for "on hit" effects

Evasive Roll
Cheap cost, great panic button and on the top, a source of Quick… believe me, you'll always miss it if you've tried it at least once.
Alternative: Marked for the Hunt, but not always you face many foes at once and you can choose the following target…

Level 8

Sure-Handed Ila Nocked Her Arrows with Speed
Less reload and revovery time, more speed, more DPS. And it is good with your ranged summons. Do you remember the wurm from before?

WP: Crossbow (Interrupting Shot)
A never ending source of interrupts. Why not?

Level 9

Ancient Memory
Wonderful infinite source of AoE (for summons and companion) healing. Also with mid MIG we can exploit it.

Level 10

...and Their Screams Reached The Heavens
Why have wurms if we don't use their Screaming Breath?
Alternative: The Lover Cried out to the Beloved, "I am Yours!" - An AoE Charme, if you are satisfied with "regular" wurms.

Hunter's Claw
Not for itself but rather for its upgrade
Alternative: a passive like Gunner or Two Weapons Style or Weapons and Shield Style.

Level 11

The Brideman Slew Thirty 'Fore They Crossed Half the Hall
Strong and Steadfast for you and yours summons/companion. Not bad.
Alternative: ...Its Crash Could Not Be Denied, if you enjoy stunning people, +15 ACC is always welcomed

Level 12

At the Sound of His Voice, the Killers Froze Stiff
It is a no brain choice, more with high ACC and INT. And it is an alternative to Stunned and/or enemies with high Reflex.
Companion, Skeletons and Wurms are enough for us and alternatives chanter summons are not so good or important to pick up.
Alternative: The Long Night's Drink Birthed the Revenge of Morning - a source of Weakened and a -14 debuff to Fortitude, I didn't think so but it is an underrated Phrase.

WP: Medium Shield (Block)
30% complete resistance to attacks is huge when we are in trouble somentimes. 
Alternative: you can experiment with Magical implements modals, such as Scepters (Destructive Channeling) or Rods (Blast).

Level 13

Rapid Casting
Speed can make the difference between life and death. Always picked up in my runs.

Practiced Healer
Wait! Why not Driving Flight?!?! Well, like Marked for the Hunt not always we are facing more foes at once and we need to compensate mid MIG for healing capability, 
besides it synergies with chanter healing abilities and everyone benefits from it (summons and AC).
And if we stack Healing buffs, we can heal like no one.

Level 14

The Bride Caught their Ruse and Set to Make them Pay
AoE lasting Quick and Insightful - no brain.
Alternative: Gernisc's Beast Lit the Night with his Breath - ok, you can have fun with it, but Dragons are not as good as you can hope

Level 15

Tough
We have not a large reserve of health and we often need it - trust me.

Alternative: Together They Slew Forth a River of Red or ...And Their Fear Followed Them into the Foothills - improve previous Invocations with nasty effects.

Level 16

Quick Summoning
Mandatory for a summon-based build.

Hunter's Fang
Balnce out for our mid MIG. It does wonder with Boss and megaboss (se the videos below).

WP: Large Shield (The Wall)
Useful when you search refuge versus projectiles and/or need more REF. 
And I have used two unique large shields extensively during my run, and of ot them has a enchantment that works with this WP.

Level 17

Survival of the Fittest
More ACC is Always welcomed, even if we have already high ACC. With high defense values of some foes it is envaluable.

Level 18

Improved Critical
Plenty of choices here. I'd prefer this one because with our ACC we score many Crits thus we are improving our DPS, and a passive ability is more advisable than active one usually.
But you can go for an alternative with no worries.

Alternative: pick an upgrade of a previuos Invocation, i.e. ...Each Kill Fed His Fury because +5 CON helps us a lot; or have fun with So Singt thy Biting Winds o' Eld Nary but Tornado is quite clumsy in my opinion.
Their Champion Braved The Horde Alone is good for PEN buff, but you have already The Brideman Slew Thirty 'Fore They Crossed Half the Hall who give more MIG. 
With our excellent DPS Old Siec Would Not Rest 'til His Hunger Was Sated works very weel, instead.

Level 19

Called to His Bidding, the Ancient Instruments of Death
And finally, our SIX animated weapons full of self healing and their own abilities!

Superior Camouflage
+8 DEF against ranged attacks when we are almost always far from the fight, is our bread.

Alternative: ok, you can pick Driving Flight because is a great DPS enhancer all in all

Level 20

Many Lives Pass By, Each Leaving Footprints
Sometimes, without it, you wouldn't be able to win certain battles. A free skeleton invocation.
Alternative: Mercy and Kindness Followed Where'er She Walked if you want a more healing-oriented build; Set to Their Purpose, They All Knew Their Part because more INT more the summons last.
Or have fun with Boil Their Flesh From Skin to Bone seeing enemies explode when they are almost dead

WP: War Bow (Overdraw)
Most because to be considered a ranged weapon specialist. Or follow advices of level 12.

Watcher's Abilities

Wit of Death's Herald
Taking always sassy responses to Gods, you have a source of "Brilliant". And Laerne has a bold personality

No Time for the Lost
More duration to Beneficial Effects, Less duration of hostile effects - it's the best choice, but it doesn't make so much difference,RPG-wise you can also go for Mercy for the Lost.

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Equipments

Weapons

There are three weapons I've used in my run more than the others: Frostseeker, Essence Interrupter and Eccea's Arcane Blaster.
Frostseeker comes relatively early and it has three properies that make it vry good for us: it is multi-shot, it has 2 different damages and it has an AoE effects. 
The best choice early/mid game versus groups of foe. And it is perfect from RPG point of view!
Essence Interrupter can be bought almost immediately, it has 2 (or three) different damages, DPS can be improves by skill maxing and as a hunting bow it is very fast. Extensively used through all my run.
Eccea's Arcane Blaster is maybe the best ranged weapon for us when pierce, frost and shock damage are failing or we need corrode/crush damage. Imbued Ammunition deal a lot of damage and we are so fast that 35% more recovery doens't worry.
On top of that Fractured Bullet furthermore enhance DPS and helps delivering one of the other enchantments. And it is a lot of fun to use it!

Other weapons used frequently

Scourge of Bezzello: useful for canceling enemies concentration with multi-shot and its modal.
Kitchen Stove: needed for stacking Hunter's Fang buffs with multishot and Wild Barrage.
Blightheart: a soulbound arquebuse we can wield early game as a healing source and to build phrases faster.
A dagger for parry when I were using a defensive slot with a shield.

There are some other weapons used but just for fun or occasionally.

Shields

Somentimes I've used The Best Defense when I needed a weapon slot for defensive purpose as well as Nerian's Ward, Lethandria's Devotion (the latter benefits also of our healing buffs) or Wintertide Bulwark.

Armor

Miscreant's Leathers: my favourite dress early game. -10% Recovery, +8 REF, -10% Crit Damage taken and +5% Misses converted to Grazes. What else do we need?
Fleshmender: +5 Health Restored per 12.0 sec which become superhigh with our healing buff, +3 AR bonus at combat start, on top of that +1 Quick Item Slots and 5% of incoming Hits converted to Grazes. 
It is like a god mode with this character I has ended up wearing it all mid/late game.

RPG-wise you can use also Sharpshooter's Garb, but it is less effective than Fleshmender, I warn you

Clothing

Head: Acina's Tricorn (more DPS)
Neck: Baubles of the Fin (more DPS for summons) / Bone Setter's Torc (healing buff and more self DPS) - Charm of Bones against vessels, with also its +2 INT
Hands: Aegor's Swift Touch (more DPS) / 
Finger 1: Ring of the Marksman (+1 PEN is fundamental) / Ring of Prosperity's Fortune (increase DPS)
Finger 2: Ring of Greater Regeneration (with our healing buffs is a huge boost in healing) / Kuaru's Prize (+1 INT is always more summons time and it increase also our scrolls DPS)
Waist: Physicker's Belt (healing buff) / Sash of Judgment (improve DPS) / The Undying Burden (defensive choice and +2 CON)
Feet: Footprints of Ahu Taka (DEX and healing buff) / Boots of Stone (DEX and resistance to stunned, moreover looks better than sandals ;P) / Fenan's Finery (the best fitting RPG shoes)
Cape: The Giftbearer's Cloth (one more quick item, one more weapon and more defence that we lack) / Cloak of the Theocrat (more INT more summons time)
Pet: Harley (+10% ranged damage is better than all the rest) / Animancy Cat (improves summons a lot and Arcana and Metaphysics is just our skill!)
Trinket: Muātu's Head or Crucible Token

Quick slot items

With high Alchemy I've found these potions very useful in my run: 

    - Potion of Spatial Alacrity, Potion of Deftness and Potion of Perfect Aim to increase DPS; 
    - Potion of Impediment for interrupts; 
    - All healing potion cause of our high healing buff.

Any drug is good for us, especially Mouth Char, Deadeye (in this case Potion of Impediment and Potion of Deftness are unnecessary), Taru Turu Chew for our low/mid MIG and CON
and occasionally Whiteleaf for its healing effect upgraded by our healing buffs.

With high Arcana Scroll of Avenging Storm is awesome when we shot with a multi-projectile weapons (i.e. Frostseeker); Scroll of Moonwell is wonderful for us and our summons because of healing; 
Scroll of Withdraw lasts a lot and can save us many times; all powerful scrolls deal much damage with our high PER (i.e. Scroll of Storm of Holy Fire, Scroll of Great Maelstrom and so on...)
Unfortunately, the Scroll of Kalakoth's Minor Blights could have been a beautiful and appropriate weapon for Laerne, but they are less effective than other "normal weapons" because the damage type changes randomly with each hit (this is not suitable for almost any creature) and it would be better if it were a rod or a scepter; the wand is a bit "meh", but you can use it just for fun every now and then.

Food and Drink

Laerne is especially fond of Mohorā Wraps: it gives us a lot of strength (which we lack) and speed, which increases our DPS.
Apart from that, Glazed Chops are also great for strength and the healing buff as well as Honey Wine Hen for even more defensive fights.

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How to play the build

The way to play the build is not very difficult to understand: summon allies with the chanter's invocations, make them tank and shoot as much as you can with the throwing weapons that are most suitable for the enemy you are facing. 
Use as many buffs as you can with the Phrases and/or the ranger's abilities, in case of danger use "Evasive Roll" and/or "The Thunder Rolled Like Waves on Black Seas" and if you can't use the chanter's summons, spend a bond on your beautiful badass bear  

VIDEOS

Laerne in action: all megabosses, Nemnok - a very difficult fight! - and Changeling's Dance as bonus track  

Nemnok

Changeling's Dance

Sigilmaster Auranic

Belranga

Dorudugan

Hauani O Whe

Guardian of Ukaizo

 

[thelee]

it's always baffling to me that a good number of folks play PotD solo fairly, so I really enjoyed the videos of this build in action.