Chanter - PotD

[Brimsurfer]

Hey guys, starting a PotD run as a Chanter.........this will be my first playthrough as Chanter.

 

I have been looking around on internet for what people have to say about how to build a chanter, but I haven't been able to find anything conclusive, there is some difference of opinion.

 

My big question is this, do I really need Constitution and Resolve (both recommended) on Chanter? I rather put points in Might (for damage) and Dexterity (for speed)?

 

So here I am......I would love if people could share their chanter builds, attribute stats and their experiences as a Chanter, so I can get some insight........

 

Thanks.

Edited April 14, 2015 by Brimsurfer

[0rangekun]

Dexterity isn't especially high priority for Chanters because it has no effect on their Chants. They can wear the heaviest armour, wield the slowest weapon, and bog themselves down with modal talents that further reduce attack speed and they will chant every bit as quickly as a Chanter wearing nothing at all.

 

I haven't gotten the impression Constitution is all that great of a stat, though, as a whole. Maybe for Monks, who rely on taking some hits to generate Wounds, but the difference between a high and low Con's Endurance pool isn't enormous. I think.

 

I do believe it boils down to what sort of Chanter you want, though. A tanky Chanter wearing plate, stacking up defenses, and sitting there waiting for their Chant counter to build up would need more survivibility of course than, say, a Chanter toting a gun and hanging out in the mid/back line.

[Brimsurfer]

Dexterity isn't especially high priority for Chanters because it has no effect on their Chants. They can wear the heaviest armour, wield the slowest weapon, and bog themselves down with modal talents that further reduce attack speed and they will chant every bit as quickly as a Chanter wearing nothing at all.

 

I haven't gotten the impression Constitution is all that great of a stat, though, as a whole. Maybe for Monks, who rely on taking some hits to generate Wounds, but the difference between a high and low Con's Endurance pool isn't enormous. I think.

 

I do believe it boils down to what sort of Chanter you want, though. A tanky Chanter wearing plate, stacking up defenses, and sitting there waiting for their Chant counter to build up would need more survivibility of course than, say, a Chanter toting a gun and hanging out in the mid/back line.

 

I was thinking more like, a bow and arrow chanter with some what faster attack speed, that's why I was thinking about putting points in dexterity...but i dont really know, since I dont have much experience with chanters.

 

And whats the deal with resolve why do i need resolve as a chanter i dont understand......constitution, intelligence and resolve are three recommended attributes for chanter...I understand the need of intelligence but I don't understand the other two....

Edited April 14, 2015 by Brimsurfer

[Brimsurfer]

No one else has anything to say about this?

[Incendax]

We know this is PotD, but is this a solo run?

 

Resolve is useful because:

• Chanters make decent tanks, and Resolve directly contributes to tanking.
• Resolve is heavily involved in many dialog choices, and may improve your roleplaying experience.
• If you use a bow, Resolve prevents enemies from interrupting you.

Resolve is NOT useful if you are:

• Never getting attacked because you are in the back line shooting a bow.

[Eos]

Depends on the role you want your chanter to fulfill; the three most obvious ones being tank, ranged DD or support. As you are playing on PotD, you should prefer specialization over hybridization as it's just simply more effective and you got enough party members to cover all your bases with highly effective specialists instead of semi-effective-but-highly-efficient hybrids.

 

Tank

 

If you go tank, you can just stack defensive stats/talents and not care about any sort of offensive stats/talents. This works so well because the Chanter starts with high deflection and all his defensive core abilities (chants + defensive invocations) don't care about your stats.

 

Stats

 

minimum Strength, Minimum Dexterity - you don't need your tank to deal any damage and your chants/defensive invocations/summons don't care about your Strength/Dexterity

maximum Perception, maximum Resolve - you want to be tanky, so you take the stats that increase your deflection (don't mind saving throws, because every stat contributes to those equally)

as you see fit Constitution, as you see fit Intelligence - because as a Chanter you don't have built in Endurance regeneration, you do need a healthy amount of Constitution because no matter what, you will get hit during a fight and no matter how high your damage reduction is, some damage will tickle through. I am comfortably with 14 Constitution, but your playstyle might warrant more or less. The rest can be put into Intelligence to increase the radius of some of the invocations

 

Talents

 

Everything that increases your damage avoidance stats. Cautious Attack for deflection, Weapon and Shield Spec. for deflection and Reflex, the three saving throw talents, Superior Deflection.. you can probably figure this one out on your own.

 

Items

 

The heaviest armor you can find (you don't care about your recovery time because you don't care about attacking anyway and you get your chants/invocations off just fine), the biggest shield (you don't care about your accuracy because your chants don't need to hit anything and your defensive invocations are mostly summons who have their own stats), a hatchet (don't even need to enchant it, because there's no difference between 0.6 damage and 0.7 damage per hit) and whatever boosts your Perception/Resolve/Constitution/Deflection/Saving Throws/Intelligence.

 

Combat

 

I usually have two types of chants: a defensive one for when the Chanter is in the front (wielding his trusty hatchet and a shield), supporting my main tank and being an off-tank, and a offensive one for when there is no need for tank-support/an off-tank and he can just increase my party's DPS by chanting the ranged attack speed chant and the fire damage chant (standing in the back wielding a ranged weapon which optionally even has a property like '+10 accuracy for an ally who attacks the same target' or '-5 defensive for the target')

 

Whenever the points for an invocation are there, I usually summon either some defensive mobs (skeletons, ogres, ..) to support my tank/create flanking for my Rogues, or an offensive one (phantom, drake, ..) to increase party DPS.

 

That's pretty much how I use my Chanter as a off-tank.

 

If you want to go ranged DPS, just do the opposite. Stack Might, Dexterity, Intelligence, ignore Constitution, Perception, Resolve, wear no armor, wield some heavy hitting ranged weapon, chant the offensive phrases and pick the offensive talents (depending on your weapon of choice: Gunner, Penetrating Shot, Marksman, Weapon Focus, etc.) and stand around in the back with your squishies

Edited April 14, 2015 by Eos

[Brimsurfer]

Depends on the role you want your chanter to fulfill; the three most obvious ones being tank, ranged DD or support. As you are playing on PotD, you should prefer specialization over hybridization as it's just simply more effective and you got enough party members to cover all your bases with highly effective specialists instead of semi-effective-but-highly-efficient hybrids.

 

Tank

 

If you go tank, you can just stack defensive stats/talents and not care about any sort of offensive stats/talents. This works so well because the Chanter starts with high deflection and all his defensive core abilities (chants + defensive invocations) don't care about your stats.

 

Stats

 

minimum Strength, Minimum Dexterity - you don't need your tank to deal any damage and your chants/defensive invocations/summons don't care about your Strength/Dexterity

maximum Perception, maximum Resolve - you want to be tanky, so you take the stats that increase your deflection (don't mind saving throws, because every stat contributes to those equally)

as you see fit Constitution, as you see fit Intelligence - because as a Chanter you don't have built in Endurance regeneration, you do need a healthy amount of Constitution because no matter what, you will get hit during a fight and no matter how high your damage reduction is, some damage will tickle through. I am comfortably with 14 Constitution, but your playstyle might warrant more or less. The rest can be put into Intelligence to increase the radius of some of the invocations

 

Talents

 

Everything that increases your damage avoidance stats. Cautious Attack for deflection, Weapon and Shield Spec. for deflection and Reflex, the three saving throw talents, Superior Deflection.. you can probably figure this one out on your own.

 

Items

 

The heaviest armor you can find (you don't care about your recovery time because you don't care about attacking anyway and you get your chants/invocations off just fine), the biggest shield (you don't care about your accuracy because your chants don't need to hit anything and your defensive invocations are mostly summons who have their own stats), a hatchet (don't even need to enchant it, because there's no difference between 0.6 damage and 0.7 damage per hit) and whatever boosts your Perception/Resolve/Constitution/Deflection/Saving Throws/Intelligence.

 

Combat

 

I usually have two types of chants: a defensive one for when the Chanter is in the front (wielding his trusty hatchet and a shield), supporting my main tank and being an off-tank, and a offensive one for when there is no need for tank-support/an off-tank and he can just increase my party's DPS by chanting the ranged attack speed chant and the fire damage chant (standing in the back wielding a ranged weapon which optionally even has a property like '+10 accuracy for an ally who attacks the same target' or '-5 defensive for the target')

 

Whenever the points for an invocation are there, I usually summon either some defensive mobs (skeletons, ogres, ..) to support my tank/create flanking for my Rogues, or an offensive one (phantom, drake, ..) to increase party DPS.

 

That's pretty much how I use my Chanter as a off-tank.

 

If you want to go ranged DPS, just do the opposite. Stack Might, Dexterity, Intelligence, ignore Constitution, Perception, Resolve, wear no armor, wield some heavy hitting ranged weapon, chant the offensive phrases and pick the offensive talents (depending on your weapon of choice: Gunner, Penetrating Shot, Marksman, Weapon Focus, etc.) and stand around in the back with your squishies

I dont want to go tank with a chanter, like I mentioned above I was planning to be a DD Chanter........mostly ranged but melee if encounter calls for it.... I am wondering if I would need dexterity to be successful in this role.

[Brimsurfer]

 

We know this is PotD, but is this a solo run?

 

Resolve is useful because:

• Chanters make decent tanks, and Resolve directly contributes to tanking.
• Resolve is heavily involved in many dialog choices, and may improve your roleplaying experience.
• If you use a bow, Resolve prevents enemies from interrupting you.

Resolve is NOT useful if you are:

• Never getting attacked because you are in the back line shooting a bow.

 

 

No its not a solo run, i plan to use full party and I was thinking about sort of a dps chanter, mostly ranged but will be switching to melee, if situation calls for it.

Edited April 14, 2015 by Brimsurfer

[Eos]

Ah, sorry, somehow I managed to think that you wanted to be tanky. So ranged DD it is. But I don't think it's a good idea to stat/gear your Chanter to be able to engage in melee while also trying to maintain high ranged DPS. You can't excel at both and there are more efficient ways to confront melee heavy encounters than to have one of your chars be a jack-of-all-trades.

 

Stats

 

Maximum Strength, Maximum Dexterity, Maximum Intelligence: you want to hit hard, you want to hit often and you want to hit a lot of things in one go

Minimum Perception, Resolve, Constitution: granted that you position your Chanter well and properly manage aggro, you don't need any sort of defensive stats

 

Talents

 

All the offensive ranged talents there are: Marksman, Gunner (if you go Arbaleste/Gun)/Penetrating Shot (if you go Bow), Weapon Focus and then maybe some of the +elemental damage talents if you have a specific invocation nuke that you like to use a lot, or else Envenomed Strike, or Savage Attacks.. after the initial three talents you are pretty much free to choose whatever you want as they rest is rather marginal in comparison to the first three talents

 

Items

 

Most damaging ranged weapon you can find, no armor (only slows your attacks down) and items with +Might/Dexterity/Accuracy/Crit Multiplier/Ranged Damage

 

Combat

 

Best chants for ranged offense are the attack speed chant and the fire damage chant. Not much else to chant. Stay in the back, focus down crucial/squishy targets first and throw out an invocation whenever you got the resources for it. I'm not sure why you would ever want to go melee with your ranged character or what situations 'call for it' and you would ultimately just weaken your char overall by also statting/gearing him for close combat

Edited April 14, 2015 by Eos

[Exoduss]

Dont think chanter is worth to build as dps class on potd there are plenty of better dpsers , you want chanter on potd make him 2nd tank , investing into might and dex is one of the worst things you could do for a chanter imo , Intelect Is way to go for such heavy buffing class and after intelect you go for tanking stats and keep might and const arround 10 , dex is dumpstat chanter doesnt do enough auto attack damage to go for dex neither he has many spells to rotate also wearing heaviest armors action speed wont matter as it will be very low anyway and thas ok

[Exoduss]

Dont think chanter is worth to build as dps class on potd there are plenty of better dpsers , you want chanter on potd make him 2nd tank , investing into might and dex is one of the worst things you could do for a chanter imo , Intelect Is way to go for such heavy buffing class and after intelect you go for tanking stats and keep might and const arround 10 , dex is dumpstat chanter doesnt do enough auto attack damage to go for dex neither he has many spells to rotate also wearing heaviest armors action speed wont matter as it will be very low anyway and thas ok

 

Basicly thing about might and dex is even if you max thease 2 on your chanter he wont do any real damage from them so whats the point ?

Edited April 14, 2015 by Exoduss

[Brimsurfer]

Dont think chanter is worth to build as dps class on potd there are plenty of better dpsers , you want chanter on potd make him 2nd tank , investing into might and dex is one of the worst things you could do for a chanter imo , Intelect Is way to go for such heavy buffing class and after intelect you go for tanking stats and keep might and const arround 10 , dex is dumpstat chanter doesnt do enough auto attack damage to go for dex neither he has many spells to rotate also wearing heaviest armors action speed wont matter as it will be very low anyway and thas ok

Chanter auto attack is the same as any other average accuracy class auto attack and as Eos mentioned i'll pick up ranged combat talents (with specific weapon specialisations) and i can go; 16 in each might, dex and intel.........and; 10 in each  cons, perc and res ........ (or may be 8 in perc and res;  and go 18 in might and intel).......... sounds promising.....

Edited April 14, 2015 by Brimsurfer

[Ceranai]

Dont think chanter is worth to build as dps class on potd there are plenty of better dpsers , you want chanter on potd make him 2nd tank , investing into might and dex is one of the worst things you could do for a chanter imo , Intelect Is way to go for such heavy buffing class and after intelect you go for tanking stats and keep might and const arround 10 , dex is dumpstat chanter doesnt do enough auto attack damage to go for dex neither he has many spells to rotate also wearing heaviest armors action speed wont matter as it will be very low anyway and thas ok

 

Basicly thing about might and dex is even if you max thease 2 on your chanter he wont do any real damage from them so whats the point ?

 

 

Dont think chanter is worth to build as dps class on potd there are plenty of better dpsers , you want chanter on potd make him 2nd tank , investing into might and dex is one of the worst things you could do for a chanter imo , Intelect Is way to go for such heavy buffing class and after intelect you go for tanking stats and keep might and const arround 10 , dex is dumpstat chanter doesnt do enough auto attack damage to go for dex neither he has many spells to rotate also wearing heaviest armors action speed wont matter as it will be very low anyway and thas ok

Chanter auto attack is the same as any other average accuracy class auto attack and as Eos mentioned i'll pick up ranged combat talents (with specific weapon specialisations) and i can go; 16 in each might, dex and intel.........and; 10 in each  cons, perc and res ........ (or may be 8 in perc and res;  and go 18 in might and intel).......... sounds promising.....

 

 

 

I would argue that what makes chanters broken is that they can maintain high DPS while bein as tanky as possible. My 137 deflection chanter was able to maintain a DPS of 7 damage per second+autoattacks+scrolls whatever just by standing there chanting the dragon chant. This damage is AOE so skyrockets when the chanter is surrounded and can further skyrocket if you chant cycle (switch between two dragon chants (the DOT normally hits every 2 seconds but if you switch between two chants you can apply a new DOT and because it hits once when it applies and you can apply it much faster than every 2 seconds you damage goes up my a huge amount. Not to mention drakes/ogres/ice spikes, the most useful of which i think is ice spikes as long as you run out of rangeof the rest of your party as the damage is huge and his allies and enemies.

[Brimsurfer]

 

 

 

Dont think chanter is worth to build as dps class on potd there are plenty of better dpsers , you want chanter on potd make him 2nd tank , investing into might and dex is one of the worst things you could do for a chanter imo , Intelect Is way to go for such heavy buffing class and after intelect you go for tanking stats and keep might and const arround 10 , dex is dumpstat chanter doesnt do enough auto attack damage to go for dex neither he has many spells to rotate also wearing heaviest armors action speed wont matter as it will be very low anyway and thas ok

Chanter auto attack is the same as any other average accuracy class auto attack and as Eos mentioned i'll pick up ranged combat talents (with specific weapon specialisations) and i can go; 16 in each might, dex and intel.........and; 10 in each  cons, perc and res ........ (or may be 8 in perc and res;  and go 18 in might and intel).......... sounds promising.....

 

 

 

I would argue that what makes chanters broken is that they can maintain high DPS while bein as tanky as possible. My 137 deflection chanter was able to maintain a DPS of 7 damage per second+autoattacks+scrolls whatever just by standing there chanting the dragon chant. This damage is AOE so skyrockets when the chanter is surrounded and can further skyrocket if you chant cycle (switch between two dragon chants (the DOT normally hits every 2 seconds but if you switch between two chants you can apply a new DOT and because it hits once when it applies and you can apply it much faster than every 2 seconds you damage goes up my a huge amount. Not to mention drakes/ogres/ice spikes, the most useful of which i think is ice spikes as long as you run out of rangeof the rest of your party as the damage is huge and his allies and enemies.

 

What melee style are you using? two handed, dual wield or sword shield?

Edited April 14, 2015 by Brimsurfer

[Ceranai]

 

 

 

 

Dont think chanter is worth to build as dps class on potd there are plenty of better dpsers , you want chanter on potd make him 2nd tank , investing into might and dex is one of the worst things you could do for a chanter imo , Intelect Is way to go for such heavy buffing class and after intelect you go for tanking stats and keep might and const arround 10 , dex is dumpstat chanter doesnt do enough auto attack damage to go for dex neither he has many spells to rotate also wearing heaviest armors action speed wont matter as it will be very low anyway and thas ok

Chanter auto attack is the same as any other average accuracy class auto attack and as Eos mentioned i'll pick up ranged combat talents (with specific weapon specialisations) and i can go; 16 in each might, dex and intel.........and; 10 in each  cons, perc and res ........ (or may be 8 in perc and res;  and go 18 in might and intel).......... sounds promising.....

 

 

 

I would argue that what makes chanters broken is that they can maintain high DPS while bein as tanky as possible. My 137 deflection chanter was able to maintain a DPS of 7 damage per second+autoattacks+scrolls whatever just by standing there chanting the dragon chant. This damage is AOE so skyrockets when the chanter is surrounded and can further skyrocket if you chant cycle (switch between two dragon chants (the DOT normally hits every 2 seconds but if you switch between two chants you can apply a new DOT and because it hits once when it applies and you can apply it much faster than every 2 seconds you damage goes up my a huge amount. Not to mention drakes/ogres/ice spikes, the most useful of which i think is ice spikes as long as you run out of rangeof the rest of your party as the damage is huge and his allies and enemies.

 

What melee style are you using? two handed, dual wield or sword shield?

 

Hatchet and shield, with all my talents aside from scion of flame in teh defensive tree. My DPS pre level 9 was nothing but as soon as i got the level 9 chant i just because super OP, like walk into a room and everyone dies OP

[Brimsurfer]

 

 

 

 

 

Dont think chanter is worth to build as dps class on potd there are plenty of better dpsers , you want chanter on potd make him 2nd tank , investing into might and dex is one of the worst things you could do for a chanter imo , Intelect Is way to go for such heavy buffing class and after intelect you go for tanking stats and keep might and const arround 10 , dex is dumpstat chanter doesnt do enough auto attack damage to go for dex neither he has many spells to rotate also wearing heaviest armors action speed wont matter as it will be very low anyway and thas ok

Chanter auto attack is the same as any other average accuracy class auto attack and as Eos mentioned i'll pick up ranged combat talents (with specific weapon specialisations) and i can go; 16 in each might, dex and intel.........and; 10 in each  cons, perc and res ........ (or may be 8 in perc and res;  and go 18 in might and intel).......... sounds promising.....

 

 

 

I would argue that what makes chanters broken is that they can maintain high DPS while bein as tanky as possible. My 137 deflection chanter was able to maintain a DPS of 7 damage per second+autoattacks+scrolls whatever just by standing there chanting the dragon chant. This damage is AOE so skyrockets when the chanter is surrounded and can further skyrocket if you chant cycle (switch between two dragon chants (the DOT normally hits every 2 seconds but if you switch between two chants you can apply a new DOT and because it hits once when it applies and you can apply it much faster than every 2 seconds you damage goes up my a huge amount. Not to mention drakes/ogres/ice spikes, the most useful of which i think is ice spikes as long as you run out of rangeof the rest of your party as the damage is huge and his allies and enemies.

 

What melee style are you using? two handed, dual wield or sword shield?

 

Hatchet and shield, with all my talents aside from scion of flame in teh defensive tree. My DPS pre level 9 was nothing but as soon as i got the level 9 chant i just because super OP, like walk into a room and everyone dies OP

 

I hope its not broken.......but anyway i'll take a look into this..

[Ceranai]

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dont think chanter is worth to build as dps class on potd there are plenty of better dpsers , you want chanter on potd make him 2nd tank , investing into might and dex is one of the worst things you could do for a chanter imo , Intelect Is way to go for such heavy buffing class and after intelect you go for tanking stats and keep might and const arround 10 , dex is dumpstat chanter doesnt do enough auto attack damage to go for dex neither he has many spells to rotate also wearing heaviest armors action speed wont matter as it will be very low anyway and thas ok

Chanter auto attack is the same as any other average accuracy class auto attack and as Eos mentioned i'll pick up ranged combat talents (with specific weapon specialisations) and i can go; 16 in each might, dex and intel.........and; 10 in each  cons, perc and res ........ (or may be 8 in perc and res;  and go 18 in might and intel).......... sounds promising.....

 

 

 

I would argue that what makes chanters broken is that they can maintain high DPS while bein as tanky as possible. My 137 deflection chanter was able to maintain a DPS of 7 damage per second+autoattacks+scrolls whatever just by standing there chanting the dragon chant. This damage is AOE so skyrockets when the chanter is surrounded and can further skyrocket if you chant cycle (switch between two dragon chants (the DOT normally hits every 2 seconds but if you switch between two chants you can apply a new DOT and because it hits once when it applies and you can apply it much faster than every 2 seconds you damage goes up my a huge amount. Not to mention drakes/ogres/ice spikes, the most useful of which i think is ice spikes as long as you run out of rangeof the rest of your party as the damage is huge and his allies and enemies.

 

What melee style are you using? two handed, dual wield or sword shield?

 

Hatchet and shield, with all my talents aside from scion of flame in teh defensive tree. My DPS pre level 9 was nothing but as soon as i got the level 9 chant i just because super OP, like walk into a room and everyone dies OP

 

I hope its not broken.......but anyway i'll take a look into this..

 

In fairness it wasa very specialised build that i planned 9 levels ahead of time, i knew that Chants are unaffected by recover times or dexterity and that the dragon chant had a really high damage so i built by entire buuld around the the idea that all i needed to do was survive long enough to chant away their hp