Most useful "Slayer" enchantment?

[Akimbo]

Which is generally the most useful slayer enchantment?

 

By default I tend to lean towards Kith, simply because most of what I've fought so far have been "sentient humanoids".

 

However does this change later in the game?

 

Basically I'm looking to enchant Tidefall or perhaps an Estoc for my Chanter, who is fed up of doing no damage...so I'm looking to see what the "best" options are.

 

e.g. Probably fire lash, since I have the talent that improves burning damage already.

[Ichthyic]

I think you have it.  which is also why kith costs double the others.

next to kith... early on spirit is useful, mid game wilder is useful (trolls, ogres, xaurips are common), beast is just about as useful (lions, drakes) and also lategame (dragons).  vessel is slightly less useful (pretty much all the non spirit undead, which are common, but not all that tough for the most part) and about equivalent to primordial in my mind.

really though, they are all useful at different places and times.  kith are by far and away the most common and diverse, so you can't go wrong there. 

take a look at this:

http://orcz.com/Pillars_of_Eternity:_Monster_Strengths_and_Weaknesses

and this:

http://pillarsofeternity.gamepedia.com/Creature

and you will get an idea of what abilites should go with which weapons to be used on various creatures.  you'll probably want an assortment of weapons, frankly.

but, if you are using a weapon you like, that has lots of room on it for enchants still (like say, a one handed weapon that only has 3 enchant used on it) you can't go wrong with kith slaying, exceptional quality, and an elemental efect (that would be 9 total added to the 3 it already has, for example).

but aside from kith... I'd probably go wilder or beast.  I friggen hate ogres, and dragons always need the extra damage boost.  past that, make a crushing weapon with spirit slaying and frost for blights, as they are susceptible to crushing and cold, so you can give them a triple whammy.  plus, high level blights are actually pretty hard to kill.

elemental wise, you can't go wrong with corrosive damage, hardly anything is resistant to it (only crystal spiders and blights), and many tough enemies are actualy weak to it (ogres, trolls, sporelings, skeletal undead, stone beetles).

... last but not least, don't bite your nails overmuch about the choices you make here, the game is easy enough with a full party you can choose whatever floats your boat, without worrying too much about optimizing everything.

if you're going solo though on hard or better, then I might agonize a bit over the choices.  but otherwise?  nah, just have fun with it. I often put enchants on weapons just to fit their descriptions, like frost enchant for the estoc that can cast blizzard.  it probably would do better with corrosive damage, but frost fits the description better.




 

Edited April 10, 2015 by Ichthyic

[Aron Times]

There's actually a pretty good balance of creature types in this game that it's truly difficult to settle on which slaying enchantment is best. I will agree that kith enemies are the most common, but they typically aren't the hardest to take out, as they're only human. Or elf. Or dwarf. Or whatever.

 

I would go with vessels, because while these monsters aren't the hardest to take out, they have a nasty tendency to bestow status conditions on your party. Also, in the endgame, most of your enemies are vessels. The end boss is kith, but has two vessels protecting him with over 500 HP each, and he can't die until these two vessels are destroyed. Once they're destroyed, the end boss goes down very quickly.

[b0rsuk]

Kith is quite obviously the most common, it even costs twice as much anvils.

----------------------------------------------------

 

One thing you may want to consider is what weapon type slays what kinds of monsters. For example, it's quite silly to enchant a bow with spirit slaying. Spirits will be all over you within seconds. A sword will be much better, and you don't necessarily need a shield unless you're a pathetic weak mage. My Durance wields Whispers of Yenwood + small shield.

 

Beasts include nasty spiders, including crystal ones, drakes and dragons. Many characters will want to fight them from afar, but animals are not so scary for characters in medium armor (+ shields possibly if they focus on you). Many beasts are big, so tanks in front + reaching beast slaying weapons behind are good.

 

I don't know what exactly is 'wilders', but Ogres and Trolls belong here. They are not very dangerous unless you lack artillery spells, and quite rare. Are vithrack wilders ? Even rarer.

 

Primordials - probably blights ? Blights are very vulnerable to ranged attacks, because they're slow, and Sagani can use wounding arrow on the biggest ones. I wouldn't bother. Sagani already has Primordial + Animal slaying because she's a Boreal Dwarf. +15 accuracy.

 

Vessels - these tend to be fast runners, and many fights are in the open, so unless you have exceptional ability to engage I'd use melee weapons. Revenants I don't think are very fast, but they're weak and not worth bothering.

 

Kith - they're quite fast as a rule, but also rather fragile so with an arbalest or a firearm you can use slaying to kill some before melee is joined. Not too hard to engage.

 

When in doubt, carry a pair of slaying weapons. This gives you good coverage.

 

Sometimes the best answer to "which slaying?" is "None". If you use slaying, you may be unable to fit a quality enchantment (exceptional, superb in very late game). Secondary elemental damage is more consistent and cheap.

Edited April 10, 2015 by b0rsuk

[Ichthyic]

 

Primordials - probably blights ?

nope, blights are spirit.  check the guide.

 

 

 

[Kai]

I've chosen my slayer ench based mainly on which type of creature I have the most problem with, so early on mainly spirits. Vessels are mainly useful for fampyrs since I hate their charm spells and beasts for dragons (though that is kind of situational). I also agree with pretty much everything b0rsuk wrote.

[Wolken3156]

Primordials - probably blights ? Blights are very vulnerable to ranged attacks, because they're slow, and Sagani can use wounding arrow on the biggest ones. I wouldn't bother. Sagani already has Primordial + Animal slaying because she's a Boreal Dwarf. +15 accuracy.

Primordials are Oozes and Spores, but they also include Pŵgra, Mênpŵgra and Adragans. The latter two are very dangerous but they tend to die fairly quickly in Normal and Hard. As someone mentioned, the Blights are actually Spirits.

 

I don't know what exactly is 'wilders', but Ogres and Trolls belong here. They are not very dangerous unless you lack artillery spells, and quite rare. Are vithrack wilders ? Even rarer.

Trolls, Vithracks, Skuldrs, Ogres and Xaurips are all Wilders. Also I disagree, Ogres can actually be quite dangerous, specifically Ogre Matrons and Ogre Druids... I've been scarred by that bounty quest.

 

Vessels - these tend to be fast runners, and many fights are in the open, so unless you have exceptional ability to engage I'd use melee weapons. Revenants I don't think are very fast, but they're weak and not worth bothering.

Worth noting that some of the most dangerous enemies in the game, are in fact Vessels. Death Guards and Fampyrs are extremely dangerous, and two of the toughest fights in the game involve you fighting boss level versions of both types.

 

 

Anyway if I had to pick one, I'd probably go with Kith. They're the most common, and they normally can actually put up quite a fight. But usually you're better off saving those anvils for more worthwhile enhancements.

Edited April 10, 2015 by Wolken3156

[Ichthyic]

 

I also agree with pretty much everything b0rsuk wrote.

Unfortunate, since some of it is dead wrong.

 

ogres and trolls are very common, not rare.  blights are spirits, not primordial.  kith vary across the board because they can be any class, and use any weapon or armor, which means some of them can be quite tough.  blights are not susceptible to ranged attack, unless it does crushing damage.

 

you know, there's a reason I posted the link to both guides.

 

*shrug*

 

 

 

 

Edited April 10, 2015 by Ichthyic

[Slapstick87]

I'd go with spirit, simply because those are the ones that always makes me go "oh hell no" when I see them.

[Katarack21]

I'd go with kith. Some of the hardest fights I've had have been against kith. They have what are effectively class levels. They get pretty hardcore.

[Kai]

 

 

I also agree with pretty much everything b0rsuk wrote.

Unfortunate, since some of it is dead wrong.

 

ogres and trolls are very common, not rare.  blights are spirits, not primordial.  kith vary across the board because they can be any class, and use any weapon or armor, which means some of them can be quite tough.  blights are not susceptible to ranged attack, unless it does crushing damage.

 

you know, there's a reason I posted the link to both guides.

 

*shrug*

 

 

 

 

 

Valid point, I'll admit I don't have all beast types in memory and do still have quite a bit to learn about different mobs. 

 

I don't see much reason for the kith ench though since in general I don't have that much problems with those mobs, and if I have to chose between elemental damage/better quality of the weapon and slaying, slaying is the one I prioritize last as it's far more situational. And my priority based on which mobs in general gives me the most trouble, I'd go Spirit->Vessel->Beast->Primordial->Kith->Wilder-> early on and Vessel->Beast->Spirit->Primordial->Kith->Wilder-> at higher levels. (yes, I did consult the chart for various creatures    )

[Starthief]

If I bother with slaying enchantments, I always go for spirit.  I rarely have trouble with kith; I just send tanks to engage their front line, CC all of them, focus fire on casters first.

[Kaylon]

You should pick the category which is the most resistant to your damage. For an archer it's simple - vessels - they all have high pierce dr.

[KDubya]

Before I went to Raerdic's castle I enchanted a fine estoc with kith slaying. It helped a lot in the hands of my dwarf fighter dps build. An easily enchanted extra 25% damage is nice, add in corrosive as well if you can or whatever you have the parts for. I would not try to do this for more than one guy, just take care of the heavy hitter.

 

When you get the stronghold build the garden and the shop that sells ingredients, helps a bunch in getting all the parts needed.

[Luckmann]

Kith. Because hell is other people.

 

 

But if you can, I'd have a Spiritslayer backup with a Fire Lash, because seriously, **** those things.

 

Edited April 10, 2015 by Luckmann

[AncientToaster]

Been wondering about this myself. I thought that Kith would be the obvious choice since most of the enemies you fight early in the game seem to be Humans, Elves, Aumana, Dwarves etc. 

 

This is for Act 1 and Act 2 so far. Hardest fight I've had in the game personally so far has been against a Banshee type enemy and 4 Kith soldiers in Defiance Bay crypts

[Ichthyic]

having thought more about the endless paths... if you plan to do those...

a good vessel slayer weapon is really useful for level 8, especially.  so... many... fampyrs...

...and one of them, though optional, is REALLY tough.   worth kicking his butt though, if you want some sparkly heavy armor.

I'm playing on hard, and I found that fight tough (by "tough", I mean at least one character knocked out, 1 close to it) even with a full party at level 9.  mostly because the fampyr rushed my casters instead of the tank... that was standing right in front of him, while my casters were on the bridge.... 40 yards away.

watch out for insta charm.  not looking forward to that fight on POTD.



 

[Wolken3156]

I'm playing on hard, and I found that fight tough (by "tough", I mean at least one character knocked out, 1 close to it) even with a full party at level 9.  mostly because the fampyr rushed my casters instead of the tank... that was standing right in front of him, while my casters were on the bridge.... 40 yards away.

 

watch out for insta charm.  not looking forward to that fight on POTD.

That was one of the battles I mentioned earlier ^^

 

If you have two tanks though, the fight is actually in your favor positioning wise. Have 1 tank block the bridge while the other engages the conversation. This way, they can't get around your tank and you can go all nova on them. Make sure to use Prayer against Treachery on whoever is blocking the bridge however...

 

Also, the thought of doing the final boss of the Endless Paths in POTD gives me nightmares.

Edited April 11, 2015 by Wolken3156

[Doxy]

Kith and Beast.

Kith cause alot of bosses are kith and beast for drakes/dragons.