[Paladin Build] Tea Time for Board and Sword

[Mysh]

Tea Time for Sword and Board

 

Story: It is the story of an aristocrat elven girl, who left the unfriendly lands of White that Wends to help her order. Truth is she could not stand the pressure of her father, a baron in title. When she reached the age of 20, she joined the order of Kind Wayfarers and left her town to explore the word and make new friends...

Role: Tank, Support, DPS

Advantages: High survivability, sustainable DPS, strong role playing aspects, minor support, easy to play

Disadvantages: Lesser support options

Paladin Order: Any you wish, Kind Wayfarer fits our story...

Race: Pale Elf (elemental resistances; Why? Ask Mr. Dragon) 

Attributes:
MIG: 13 (matching might and dexterity yields the best DPS with this build. I won't elaborate here, since it's too detailed. Let me know, if you need further explanation on this. The choice is based on calculations analysing for DR&deflection, weapons, weapon mods, skills, talents and atribute combinations)
DEX: 13 (as above, but also helpful for casting support abilities timely)
CON: 8 (the build is tanky even with 8 CON, but wouldn't suggest to go below)
PER: 17 (Deflection is needed for tanks. Awesome in RP)
INT: 10 (This is all you need to cover the frontline with your endurance aura)
RES: 17 (More Deflection. Essential in RP)

Background: White that Wends (the Pale Elf land), Aristocrat (+2 lore) (Consistent with RP)

Skills: Lore 10 (XP and RP reasons), Athletics 9 (nice for a tank), Survival 4 (potions)

Weapon sets: Mace and Rapier (Noble) and Shield

Abilities:
Level 1: Lay on Hands (Guaranteed moderate heal; the way to go on PotD)
Level 3: Zealous Endurance (DR; fits nicely a medium sized aura. Our goal is to extend the aura enough to reach a second frontline fighter. Not hard to do with items and 10 base INT).
Level 5: Sworn Enermy (together with your modals, will pull out damage in tougher fights. Switch to rapier before casting)
Level 7: Reviving Exhortation
Level 9 Righteous Soul (Last thing you wish is to have your front line turning against you).
Level 11 Hastening exhortion opens a useful support ability (this can turn your dual wielding DPS into a killing machine.)

Talents: 
Level 2: Weapon and Shield Style (Absolutely vital for a tank)
Level 4: Vulnerable Attack (It stacks as a modal ability with zealous endurance and savage attack. Should be always on)
Level 6: Savage Attack (Increases damage output. Should be always on)
Level 8: Weapon Focus Noble (Maces and Rapiers are the best one handed weapons, read below. It is also fitting our Aristocrat background.)
Level 10: Envenomed Strike (Boss killer)
Level 12: Deep Faith (Higher saving throws, Minor Deflection)

Comments:
1. The combination of Strength, Dexterity, Mace, Vulnerable Attack, Savage Attack and Weapon Focus brings sustainable damage. Envenomed Strike adds versatility against bosses.

2. The weapons you should aim for are the Ravewing (mace) and the Sword of Daenysis (rapier). The first is more useful against tough opponents. The second yields higher DPS against easier opponents and offers an amazing casting speed.

3. Paladins don't have the best accuracy, therefore stick to outworn buckler (and later little saviour) to avoid any penalties. They are awesome anyway (and look girly too). ^.^,

4. High dexterity becomes important in the endgame. When you can stack 4 or more sources of damage (eg. superb weapon, coordinating (Ravewing), Savage Attack, Sworn Enemy, Vulnerable Attack, Slaying) dexterity takes over strength in importance. I am able to support this with in-depth calculations. I believe it is way too detailed to post here, but will do if asked.

5. Before casting support spells switch to rapier. Exchange weapons to mace after. This is especially true for Envenomed Strike. You want to ensure a hit and the +5 accuracy rapier bonus helps.

6. The build works best together with a second front line character, such as Eder and moderate support (eg Cleric, Druid, Chanter etc).

7. Faith of Conviction, Weapon and Shield, Zealous endurance, heavy armor, high resolve and perception, righteous soul and deep faith are enough to tank even in PotD. 8 CON is sufficient,t my experience is that adding more would be uncessecary. The art of building is not behind min/maxing, but knowing where to stop.

8. Any +2 lore background would yield 10 lore, 9 athletics, 4 survival. The other alternative is Mercenary, which can achieve 10 athletics, 9 lore, 4 survival.

9. Things you should avoid like plague are flames of devotion and any order related talents. FoD is just not reliable in PotD; chances are it won't land.

10. Hold the Line is awesome on paper, but never worked in relaity. It seems far more stable to employ a second frontline fighter to hold the line...

11. Deep Faith can be traded for cautious attack. If you do so, you will have to switch between cautious attack and savage attack when necessary. In my opinion, it kills your DPS for no real reason. With moderate support you can tank anything.

Feel free to dip in and comment. Thanks for reading.

PS I will also post a Solo Paladin build for PotD in the near future.

Edited May 1, 2015 by Mysh

[gkathellar]

Reasonable, easy-to-use party build. Good job.

 

That said, I really strongly disagree with the decision to take Envenomed Strike. That should go on a more offensive character - you should have Cautious Attack on this guy.

 

There's also a very strong case for Wild Orlan as an alt to Pale Elf. I'd slash it in.

[Mysh]

Thanks, it's always great to receive feedback from you.

 

You may want to consider replacing envenomed strike with superior deflection for higher deflection without sacrificing attack speed.

[rheingold]

Nice build. I just finished a play through using Pellagina as a two handed Estoc wielding warrior. She was actually pretty useful as that, she certainly was not by any stretch of the imagination weak. She also ended up with quite high deflection - mid eighties which isn't bad.

Did good damage as well.

 

You seem to have good handle of the maths here, have you got a build for a ranged ranger handy? Not all power though, I like to mix it with role playing. Mainly what I'm after is the stats, do you need high might or is somewhere around 14 ok?

[Mysh]

I've studied one-handed weapons mainly, but once you can stack four or more sources of damage dexterity becomes more important than strength.

 

This due to the fact that weapon damage multipliers are all additive.

 

Early game benefits from high might, while end-game from high dexterity. Tougher enemies favor might more due to DR. This though certainly does not mean max MIG and min DEX, as people often think.

 

On the other side for 2-H and high damage output weapons, dexterity is more important than might. When I see people posting Estoc builds with 20MIG and 3DEX... it's so funny...

 

Overall, I would say stick to balance between might and dexterity for strong late game DPS for 1-handed weapons. Go a bit higher for DEX than MIG for 2-H weapons.

 

If you are interested I can share my MATLAB scripts with you, so you can do the math analysis yourself. I do not have the courage to post all this stuff here, but you are welcome to show you how it works. Be prepared though, it's not a one-click thing.

Edited May 2, 2015 by Mysh

[b0rsuk]

It's not as completely clear cut. Four extra damage sources is a lot and not easy to get on all classes. There are powerful attack speed potions, Potion of Power is +25% speed, Potion of Deletrious Something is +50%. Hastening Exhortation is something like +30%.

 

Hastening Exhortation has the interesting property that it's good to use on targets who use other buffs, because it's essentially time bending device. Say you use Disciplined Barrage or Frenzy. They are limited by time, and haste allows you to make more attacks during that time. It doesn't shorten duration of other buffs.

Edited May 2, 2015 by b0rsuk

[rheingold]

Thanks so much, but I will pass on the matlab scripts offer. My maths is terrible. The only thing that would accomplish is to give me a headache...

Just one more question. I'm presuming ranged weapons other than wands qualify as two handed weapons?

[Mysh]

@ Rheingold

 

Crossbow qualifies is a heavy hitter and of course arbalests. I would go dexterity over might for these two; 4-5 points not more. For a Warbow you could go 1-2 points higher DEX. For hunting bows, I would go balanced.

 

If you give me the input conditions (eg which weapon, attributes available, abilities, talents, perks, mods, etc you will have on) I can run a simulation against all enemies, for each bow and tell you the optimum stat distribution as an average in terms of DPS, or if you wish I can focus only on harder type of enemies....

 

EDIT: For a Warbow you could go 1-2 points higher MIG DEX.

Edited May 3, 2015 by Mysh

[CriticalFailure]

3. Paladins don't have the best accuracy, therefore stick to outworn buckler (and later little saviour) to avoid any penalties.

 

Considering you're taking Savage Attack, wouldn't Zealous Focus be a better aura then? I'm not convinced of which one I prefer.

 

The rapier Mosquito might be another weapon to aim for, for the endurance draining property. I often use draining weapons, but to be honest, I couldn't really say if they make a noticeable impact on survivability.

[MoxyWoo]

I ran Zealous Focus off my Darcozzi because it had synergy for the accuracy of the Fires Talent, also ran Moon Godlike so DR wouldn't be as much of an issue.  That said, if I wasn't bugged and it didn't effect the entire party I wouldn't bother with it.

 

The Endurance is at least comparable to the priest armor of faith spell, and NO SPELLS STACK WITH AURAS, which means its really like...  2 tanks (maybe.. usually just a self buff) getting effected by endurance and actually care about the DR vs Blessing the entire group.. Flipping this around = non optimal as Zealous Focus doesn't hit the back row dps.

Edited May 4, 2015 by MoxyWoo

[Blave]

Nice guide! I especially like that it (mostly) seems like it could work somewhat decently for Pallegina (with 1.05). I was looking for a good build for her. Thanks!

[MoxyWoo]

Pallegina works oddly well as a ranged option due to her miserable might stat and how burning lash aka Flames of Devotion, interacts with bigger damaging and thus slower weapons.  She also seems to have some undocumented deflection that equates to a large shield?  least in the combat logs.

 

Mostly paladins without the tank focus are good to save a priest cast of bless I noticed, so her being in the backrow clump of ranged dps is like adding +6 accuracy for 4 people, vs maybe 2 people who don't care about it... Or if rebuilt for tanking, only herself really and sometimes your other tank for 3 DR which is good too, but lacks the use of Flames which is one of the rare good things about paladins...  By the time you get her though, 3 DR is not much in the grand scheme of things while 6 accuracy on an alpha for 4 characters is always welcome.  AND she doesn't have the main pc faith to deflection/saves bonus.

 

Going for a quick switch gunner alleviates much of her issues and gives a reason to micro her a little bit.

[Evange]

 

Tea Time for Sword and Board

 

Story: It is the story of an aristocrat elven girl, who left the unfriendly lands of White that Wends to help her order. Truth is she could not stand the pressure of her father, a baron in title. When she reached the age of 20, she joined the order of Kind Wayfarers and left her town to explore the word and make new friends...

 

Role: Tank, Support, DPS

 

Advantages: High survivability, sustainable DPS, strong role playing aspects, minor support, easy to play

 

Disadvantages: Lesser support options

 

Paladin Order: Any you wish, Kind Wayfarer fits our story...

 

Race: Pale Elf (elemental resistances; Why? Ask Mr. Dragon) 

 

Attributes:

MIG: 13 (matching might and dexterity yields the best DPS with this build. I won't elaborate here, since it's too detailed. Let me know, if you need further explanation on this. The choice is based on calculations analysing for DR&deflection, weapons, weapon mods, skills, talents and atribute combinations)

DEX: 13 (as above, but also helpful for casting support abilities timely)

CON: 8 (the build is tanky even with 8 CON, but wouldn't suggest to go below)

PER: 17 (Deflection is needed for tanks. Awesome in RP)

INT: 10 (This is all you need to cover the frontline with your endurance aura)

RES: 17 (More Deflection. Essential in RP)

 

Background: White that Wends (the Pale Elf land), Aristocrat (+2 lore) (Consistent with RP)

 

Skills: Lore 10 (XP and RP reasons), Athletics 9 (nice for a tank), Survival 4 (potions)

 

Weapon sets: Mace and Rapier (Noble) and Shield

 

Abilities:

Level 1: Lay on Hands (Guaranteed moderate heal; the way to go on PotD)

Level 3: Zealous Endurance (DR; fits nicely a medium sized aura. Our goal is to extend the aura enough to reach a second frontline fighter. Not hard to do with items and 10 base INT).

Level 5: Sworn Enermy (together with your modals, will pull out damage in tougher fights. Switch to rapier before casting)

Level 7: Reviving Exhortation

Level 9 Righteous Soul (Last thing you wish is to have your front line turning against you).

Level 11 Hastening exhortion opens a useful support ability (this can turn your dual wielding DPS into a killing machine.)

 

Talents: 

Level 2: Weapon and Shield Style (Absolutely vital for a tank)

Level 4: Vulnerable Attack (It stacks as a modal ability with zealous endurance and savage attack. Should be always on)

Level 6: Savage Attack (Increases damage output. Should be always on)

Level 8: Weapon Focus Noble (Maces and Rapiers are the best one handed weapons, read below. It is also fitting our Aristocrat background.)

Level 10: Envenomed Strike (Boss killer)

Level 12: Deep Faith (Higher saving throws, Minor Deflection)

 

Comments:

1. The combination of Strength, Dexterity, Mace, Vulnerable Attack, Savage Attack and Weapon Focus brings sustainable damage. Envenomed Strike adds versatility against bosses.

 

2. The weapons you should aim for are the Ravewing (mace) and the Sword of Daenysis (rapier). The first is more useful against tough opponents. The second yields higher DPS against easier opponents and offers an amazing casting speed.

 

3. Paladins don't have the best accuracy, therefore stick to outworn buckler (and later little saviour) to avoid any penalties. They are awesome anyway (and look girly too). ^.^,

 

4. High dexterity becomes important in the endgame. When you can stack 4 or more sources of damage (eg. superb weapon, coordinating (Ravewing), Savage Attack, Sworn Enemy, Vulnerable Attack, Slaying) dexterity takes over strength in importance. I am able to support this with in-depth calculations. I believe it is way too detailed to post here, but will do if asked.

 

5. Before casting support spells switch to rapier. Exchange weapons to mace after. This is especially true for Envenomed Strike. You want to ensure a hit and the +5 accuracy rapier bonus helps.

 

6. The build works best together with a second front line character, such as Eder and moderate support (eg Cleric, Druid, Chanter etc).

 

7. Faith of Conviction, Weapon and Shield, Zealous endurance, heavy armor, high resolve and perception, righteous soul and deep faith are enough to tank even in PotD. 8 CON is sufficient,t my experience is that adding more would be uncessecary. The art of building is not behind min/maxing, but knowing where to stop.

 

8. Any +2 lore background would yield 10 lore, 9 athletics, 4 survival. The other alternative is Mercenary, which can achieve 10 athletics, 9 lore, 4 survival.

 

9. Things you should avoid like plague are flames of devotion and any order related talents. FoD is just not reliable in PotD; chances are it won't land.

 

10. Hold the Line is awesome on paper, but never worked in relaity. It seems far more stable to employ a second frontline fighter to hold the line...

 

11. Deep Faith can be traded for cautious attack. If you do so, you will have to switch between cautious attack and savage attack when necessary. In my opinion, it kills your DPS for no real reason. With moderate support you can tank anything.

 

Feel free to dip in and comment. Thanks for reading.

 

PS I will also post a Solo Paladin build for PotD in the near future.

 

How would two handed weapons fare? I'm thinking of going for Soldier weapon focus to use Tidefall and Tall Grass. Will I be able to survive in Normal/Hard? Should I take some points out of Might and put it into Dex? Or will using items to boost Dex be sufficient?

 

I'm planning on going Shieldbearer Order to get Shielding Touch.

Edited May 8, 2015 by Evange

[MoxyWoo]

Normal/Hard is easily survivable with a paladin that doesn't use a shield.

 

There's the Gunadin which correlates with your two hander concept though, basically you use..

 

Flames of Devotion > Intense Flames > Burning Lash Enhancement + A big 2 handed weapon.

 

The 100% above of the burning lash = huge chunky numbers.

 

I ran the Darcozzi paladin with a 2 hander or gun eventually as tanking became less of an issue.  YMMV, but I like Might and Dex, and dumping Per, as Res helped keep the concentration checks high and interrupts = annoying.  Also with +10 inspiring +6 zealous +15 sworn enemy, you could actually do some okay dps over other classes, though arguably, a priest made your +6 zealous less of a good thing.

[Evange]

I'm thinking of building my Pally to be crit focused, as Tall Grass knocks enemies prone on crit. With items, talents and the zealous focus aura do you think it's achievable?

[MoxyWoo]

Darcozzi Hearth Orlan, +10% crit when targeting with an ally

 

1.  Flames of Devotion

2.  Weapon Focus:  Soldier

3.  Zealous Focus

4.  Critical Focus

5.  Liberating Exhortation

6.  Inspiring Exhortation

7.  Sworn enemy (optional)

8+ whatever

 

Little spammy, but basically you use Inspiring on self + Sworn enemy (as needed) + Flames when they're downed for a lot of +hit to crit.

 

This can give you +6 (focus) +10 (inspiring) +15 (sworn) +5 (zealous) +10 (hearth) +10 (tall grass) = 66 hit or crit conversion, which will make any hit convert to a crit for things you want to down/prone. Without Sworn its still +51 which gets your past the "hit" to crit range, assuming you don't graze/miss.

 

Hesitant to say its better than face tanking with Fires talent at lvl 2, but the numbers are definitely there for +acc/crit chance and doesn't rely on other people's buffs to get there which is a nicety.

 

Edit to add:

 

The spellholding weapons would also be a good option, and depending due to the aura size, might be better to use a ranged weapon.  Personally think the stiletto with jolting would be pretty sweet for damage too now that its 2/enc.  Also, blunderbuss + Flames of Devotion is a pretty wicked Gunadin starter as well, but weapon swapping without quickswitch and this build is already talent starved, makes it harder to recommend.

 

Just be aware, afaik, there's still a bug on "stun on crit" weapons where its not truly the debuff, and it only makes them not move for a little bit.

 

Wood elf also works if ranged then.  Ranged is also special as it has Marksman over the melee style, so can get equally +10 assuming everything else is the same AND helps for the graze/miss parts.

 

Might be okay in play if you made this a npc paladin, due to having NO faith/conviction, this hireling would get crit more often and provide passive buffs, so would be loaded up with the consecrated boots and similar... Basically get critted and crit others.

Edited May 9, 2015 by MoxyWoo