Seer Build Help

[danielcaetanobittencourt]

Hello,

I want make a Build with ranger (ghost heart) and cipher for RP. But im having difficulty to choose a subclass for cipher or not choose one at all. I thinking in use the Wolf to attack the enemy backers and use ecos like soul shock in It to deal great aoe damage. I dont Care much for the debuffs and buffs from the class bc i plan to Focus on damage skills / spells, aa with hunting bows and sometimes a one handed sword alone (for the precision bonus) when enemy get me in melee. So i asking for ideas in How Build the class and which attributes increase. 

[Boeroer]

Imo the best setup is war bow (Frostseeker). High INT, DEX and PER, decent MIG. Marked Prey, Stalker's Link, Marksman, Driving Flight. Usually ascends very quickly due to Garland's Rake (enchanment on the Frostseeker bow) and then you can cast for free while ascended. It is benefical to use Borrowed Instincts for more crits, because more crits = more Garland's Rake.

This is a very strong combinantion bc. Cipher/Ranger has one of the highest potential accuracy and crit chance in the game which works very well with the bow's critical hits which produce AoE damage.  

[danielcaetanobittencourt]

1 hour ago, Boeroer said:

Imo the best setup is war bow (Frostseeker). High INT, DEX and PER, decent MIG. Marked Prey, Stalker's Link, Marksman, Driving Flight. Usually ascends very quickly due to Garland's Rake (enchanment on the Frostseeker bow) and then you can cast for free while ascended. It is benefical to use Borrowed Instincts for more crits, because more crits = more Garland's Rake.

This is a very strong combinantion bc. Cipher/Ranger has one of the highest potential accuracy and crit chance in the game which works very well with the bow's critical hits which produce AoE damage.  

Hello Boeroer.
Thanks for responding to my post. I thought about creating a pale elf that has +1 in perception and +1 in dexterity. Regarding the origin, i would choose the one who gain +1 Perception as well. To gain more accuracy i had thought about using hunting bows because of their passive effect of +5 accuracy. I know that a Cipher needs a lot of perception and acurraracy to hit attacks (preferably critical) and dexterity for consistency of attacks. My question is about the spellcasting part of the build:

1) Regarding Might. If I leave it low, say 12 or 13, won't that make the power of my Cipher spells become weak? Or Can precision make damage spells crit as well?

2) From your answer, I could understand that you are recommending the ascendant subclass for Cipher above the others, right? In this case, does INT help to maintain the Ascension state for longer as well? Or there is other motive to maintain the INT hight with DEX and PER? 

Sorry if my questions are silly, I played this game when it first came out and it was very different. Back then I made a single class barbarian and all I did was AA and win. So now I'm trying to do things a little differently and enjoy more the game, but there are a lot of complex things about builds that at first glance are not so easy to understand and now i have less free time to play.

[Boeroer]

7 hours ago, danielcaetanobittencourt said:

1) Regarding Might. If I leave it low, say 12 or 13, won't that make the power of my Cipher spells become weak? Or Can precision make damage spells crit as well?

Yes, critical hits also raise spell damage. Direct damage gets raised like weapon damage with crits (+25%). Also crits provide more penetration (*1.5) which often leads to overpenetration. Overpenetration adds +30% damage.

Spells which don't deal direct damage but damage over time (DoT) also profit from crits, but a bit differently (see below).

7 hours ago, danielcaetanobittencourt said:

2) From your answer, I could understand that you are recommending the ascendant subclass for Cipher above the others, right? In this case, does INT help to maintain the Ascension state for longer as well? Or there is other motive to maintain the INT hight with DEX and PER? 

Yes, I would recommend Ascendant for a Seer most of times.

And yes, more INT = longer Ascension phase. More INT also means bigger AoEs (all AoEs) with spells and weapons as well as longer durations for all your spell effects (benefical on allies or hostile on enemies). This includes damage, see your Disintegration spell. That one deals raw damage (no armor, no penetration) in "ticks".

Higher Might = more damage per tick. Higher INT = more ticks. Crits (in this case) = more ticks.

A few points in an attribute (like Perception or Might) don't make a lot of difference. Abilities and gear are a lot more important than a few points of your attributes. You don't need to max out any attribute to have a great build. So if you feel forced to use a Pale Elf from the White that Wends just for the PER bonuses: don't. On the other hand: if you like that character concept in the first place then it surely doesn't hurt to have bonus perception. :). And a Pale Elf Seer from the White that Wends with Frostseeker is thematically very fitting.

Bonus accuracy of hunting bows is fine, and the modal of hunting bows is also very good. Also the unique hunting bows are nice. But ultimately I don't think there's a better weapon for a Seer than Frostseeker. You can absolutely start with a hunting bow though. You will get enough weapon proficiency points to try both hunting and war bows. And once you get Frostseeker you can try it out and see if it performs better than your current hunting bow and if you like it or not. 

Edited Tuesday at 06:17 AM by Boeroer

[danielcaetanobittencourt]

Thanks. I'm going to create my character based on the tips you gave me. I was underestimating INT in favor of MIGHT thinking it would benefit me. Also, knowing that spells can crit helps A LOT. I'm going to build around that.

Also, I wanted to take the opportunity to get your opinion on something. I'm a big fan of turn-based combat and they appeal to me since I've already finished DOS 1 and 2. I find it enjoyable. However, I tried to play the first island in turn-based combat and I found it very strange. It seems that the spellcasters were greatly harmed because when the spells finally come out, the enemies have already moved and there's no way to redirect them. Another thing I noticed is that some classes were greatly harmed, like Cipher himself, who needs to build focus to be useful, but with the turn-based mechanics he spends the entire battle doing so. These were some things I noticed, but I only played Port Maje in this mode. Am I missing something? Or is the RTWP mode really better in this game?

[Boeroer]

3 hours ago, danielcaetanobittencourt said:

Also, I wanted to take the opportunity to get your opinion on something. I'm a big fan of turn-based combat and they appeal to me since I've already finished DOS 1 and 2. I find it enjoyable. However, I tried to play the first island in turn-based combat and I found it very strange. It seems that the spellcasters were greatly harmed because when the spells finally come out, the enemies have already moved and there's no way to redirect them. Another thing I noticed is that some classes were greatly harmed, like Cipher himself, who needs to build focus to be useful, but with the turn-based mechanics he spends the entire battle doing so. These were some things I noticed, but I only played Port Maje in this mode. Am I missing something? Or is the RTWP mode really better in this game?

I have not used the Turn Based Mode - so I cannot say anything that would help you I'm afraid.

I generally like Turn Based mechanics (for example I have sunk a lot of hours into Battle Brothers...), but since I started PoE and Deadfire with RTwP (and enjoy it) I saw no reason to switch the mode. Given that PoE's combat was designed around Real Time with Pause I'm inclined to say that it's the better mode for this game.  

[Chaospread]

Hi, I played a Ghost Heart / Chanter and now I'playing a Trascendent (so a Chiper also) and I always put 10 in MIG. No reason to have more of it. You can raise MIG easily and DEX, PER, INT are more important also for damage. MIG can be useful expecially for healing I guess, than for damage. 
And, besides, Cipher has alredy a bonus damage, and cipher and ranger are great damage dealer classes even without more MIG. So I agree with Boeroer.

Ascendant is good for a seer, too. Or no subclass. But because you can deal great damage has a ranger you can have damage bonus as when ascendend and zero cast cost, very good. Disadvantages are little nuance in comparisons. Other classes fit worse with ranger, for a reason or the other.

Frostseeker is a wonderful weapon, I recommend you also Essential Interrupter because of shock damage since you wanna try war bows and I like a lot Eccea's Arcan Blaster... with a Cipher it can make wonders  

I wonder what a Seer with borrowed instinct and hunter's fang can do against a specific enemy if they stack: +40 ACC, +20% damage, +20 all defenses...