Newbie needs chanter help

[Sluggy7]

::sigh:: I hate to sound like an idiot, but I don't understand how the chants work. The chanter sounds like fun, but when I tried to use Kana in my party, I had no idea what I was doing. I love the idea of the chanter and want to run my next character as one, but I don't understand the mechanics of the class.

 

As near as I can tell, the chant is automatically activated at the start of combat. Does it then stay active for the fight even if the chanter is actively fighting? And my understanding is I'm supposed to run three chants together...how do I build the chant? Am I supposed to find or buy other parts to the chants? And how does summoning work into it? I know there's a delay before a summoning is possible, but I'm not sure how to set up for a summons.

 

Any help would be appreciated. I'm playing a cipher right now (I love the cipher!), so I'm understanding the mechanics of the game without a problem...it's just the chanter abilities that are eluding me.

[Kimuji]

First you need to open you song book and make a chant: pick a phrase on the left page and it will be added to the chant on the right page. You can add as many phrases as you want to your chant.

 

Once you've made a chant your Chanter will automatically sing all the phrases you picked when a fight starts. He/she'll read them one after another following the order you chose on your song book and you'll benefit from the effect granted by each phrase in turn. It's a loop so once you reach the end it will start again from the begining. You can attack ennemies and do whatever you want it won't interrupt your chant.

 

Once your chanter has read enough phrases your spells will become available for casting (the required number is specified on the spell's tool tip). Once you've cast your spell you'll have to read again the required number of phrases in order to cast a new one.

 

Now as you probably noticed you can make up to four different chants. So you can make defensive chants, debuffing ones, mix offense and defense etc. and switch between them during a fight in order to get the effect you deem them most appropriate to the current situation.

 

If we get more in depth you'll also notice that some phrases are longer than others so they won't completely ovelap one onto another which means that you'll only benefit from their combined effects for a short duration. You can make chants with only one phrase, two phrases, three... you are free to tailor them the way you like.

 

Well I don't know if that was very clear, I hope it helped.

[jackjack]

That was the most helpful post I've seen in many moons, thank you!

[Sluggy7]

Thank you very much, Kimuji! That was exactly what I was looking for. I'm going to bring Kana back into my party now so I can practice the class. Not sure why I was struggling with it, but you cleared it up nicely. 

[Ifandbut]

Is there any reason to not just use the same phrase over and over again to keep the buff up 100% of the time? What are some good combinations of phrases to use at different levels? Like just doing "Come, Come Soft Winds of Death" constantly to keep the DoT up.

[Guest]

The "quicker" chants tend to be less powerful than their "slower" counterparts. Having a good mix allows you to get the best of both worlds. Also, some phrases have properties that complement each other, so a little digging and planning may be required to figure out what will work best for you.

 

For example, "Lo, Their Endless Host", "Thick Grew Their Tongues", "The Dragon Thrashed", followed by a repeat of "Thick Grew Their Tongues" will drop enemy Deflection and Concentration, then hit them with fairly significant Burn and Slash DoT, then allow you freeze everyone with a Paralyze Invocation. Then Kana just kinda casually finishes stuff off with his Estoc.

 

Later in the game, you may want something more defensive. "Blessed Was Wengridh", "At the Sight of Their Comrades", and "Seven Men, Onto the Deck They Went" left on repeat until you can cast either "The Bride" or "The Brideman" level 3 Invocations on your party.

Edited May 7, 2015 by Achilles

[perilisk]

Is there any reason to not just use the same phrase over and over again to keep the buff up 100% of the time? What are some good combinations of phrases to use at different levels? Like just doing "Come, Come Soft Winds of Death" constantly to keep the DoT up.

 

Well, for one thing, you lose out on the ability to have to two buffs active due to the ability of phrases to linger. If it's a high-level, long-lasting buff, it's also going to slow down your phrase counter, making it harder to get those ogre summons and whatnot.

[Ifandbut]

For example, "Lo, Their Endless Host", "Thick Grew Their Tongues", "The Dragon Thrashed", followed by a repeat of "Thick Grew Their Tongues" will drop enemy Deflection and Concentration, then hit them with fairly significant Burn and Slash DoT, then allow you freeze everyone with a Paralyze Invocation. Then Kana just kinda casually finishes stuff off with his Estoc.

But dont only one of those effects linger at a time or does the linger time rapidly increase at higher levels? Right now it seems that the linger is less then half the chant of the next phrase.

 

 

Is there any reason to not just use the same phrase over and over again to keep the buff up 100% of the time? What are some good combinations of phrases to use at different levels? Like just doing "Come, Come Soft Winds of Death" constantly to keep the DoT up.

 

Well, for one thing, you lose out on the ability to have to two buffs active due to the ability of phrases to linger. If it's a high-level, long-lasting buff, it's also going to slow down your phrase counter, making it harder to get those ogre summons and whatnot.

 

So is it best to start with a phrase with a large linger and follow it up with a shorter one?

[Guest]

 

For example, "Lo, Their Endless Host", "Thick Grew Their Tongues", "The Dragon Thrashed", followed by a repeat of "Thick Grew Their Tongues" will drop enemy Deflection and Concentration, then hit them with fairly significant Burn and Slash DoT, then allow you freeze everyone with a Paralyze Invocation. Then Kana just kinda casually finishes stuff off with his Estoc.

But dont only one of those effects linger at a time or does the linger time rapidly increase at higher levels? Right now it seems that the linger is less then half the chant of the next phrase.

So is it best to start with a phrase with a large linger and follow it up with a shorter one?

Do they have to linger for the entire duration in order to be considered helpful? I'm pretty early in this playthrough, so I don't have all the phrases yet, but take a look at this:

 

 

Frighten is continuous. Every 6 seconds there is -10 Concentration bonus (dropping overall Concentration to -16 for that duration). Not too shabby.

[Ifandbut]

I guess it is just weird for me to have buffs that are so transitory as apposed to always-on effects that are predictable.

[Maximvs]

chanters are weird. You can either chant really good chants and cast few spells or chant crappy chants and cast tons of spells. Also one type of summon maximum. Considering the AoE of chant buffs, I suggest giving your chanter a spear or 1 handed with shield as weapon unless you got a specific plan in mind

[the streaker]

Very easy to cheese with chanters. Turn on the movement speed boost chant, run around until you have enough for a summon, then cast that summon to absorb damage while you attack and activate useful chants. Then rinse and repeat. Once you get the ability to summon two ogres, there are almost no fights in the game where both will die before you can summon another two.