[CLASS BUILD] Lady of Pain - High-speed, heavy-armored DPS Fighter

[AndreaColombo]

This build has nothing to do with Planescape's Lady of Pain. It is called so because I usually like to play female characters in this game, but it would work equally well with a male character.

 

Hereby I present you with an off-tank DPS build that makes of maxing out MIGHT an art. I call this a 'preview' because I conceived this build with patch 2.0 in mind (i.e. with PER granting a bonus to Accuracy rather than Deflection); however, it works very well—and is very powerful—already in 1.06.

 

For readability, I will be dividing this post in paragraphs and hide the content of each paragraph with SPOILER tags, so you may expand and collapse them at your leisure instead of being faced with a text wall at all times.

 

Concept

 

The concept behind this character is a Stoic (primary) / Aggressive (secondary) Fighter that exploits the Frenzy + Consecrated Grounds combo from wearing Sanguine Plate and Shod-in-Faith; maximizes MIGHT; gains an overall +10 Accuracy bonus from PERCEPTION; and opens fights with a single, massively damaging shot from an Arquebus before cutting enemies down to size with a Great Sword.

 

 

Core Premises

 

The build relies on a few core premises and mechanic combos:

 

• Maximizing MIGHT score. This implies playing as an Aumaua from The Living Lands to get a starting MIGHT score of 21, then getting the Gift from the Machine in Heritage Hill (which is Cruel), sacrificing Edér to the blood pool in Skaen's temple (also Cruel), and getting Galawain's boon in Twin Elms. Wearing Pensiavi mes Rei and eating a Dragon Meat dish, you'll have a MIGHT score of 30; with a Champion's Boon spell from a Priest, 37.
• Getting the Gauntlets of Accuracy. You need them to offset the -5 Accuracy penalty bestowed by the Savage Attack talent. You can either use this guide to time your incursion in Raedric's Hold to get them, or rely on the IE Mod's random loot shuffler if you feel like reloading a few times. Or, you know, you can always cheat.
• Exploiting Frenzy + Consecrated Grounds. This implies wearing Sanguine Plate armor and Shod-in-Faith boots, and not boosting your Deflection in order to not prevent your enemies from critting you (which triggers Frenzy and Consecrated Grounds from those items.) Because of this, you'll need to stack on as much DR as possible so you can soak up the damage coming from all the swings you won't avoid (i.e. you want to enchant your armor to Superb and get the Second Skin talent by siding with the Crucible Knights in Defiance Bay. You'll also want the Blooded Hunter and Song of the Heavens talents from Twin Elms.)
• Opening the fight with an Arquebus shot. This is the feather in the character's cap, and it requires that you take the Weapon Focus: Soldier talent (which unfortunately means you're going melee with a Great Sword rather than with an Estoc, unless you go for a full-melee build.) Arquebuses do an insane amount of damage, and even more so when your MIGHT score is 37 and you have Weapon Specialization: Soldier and Weapon Mastery: Soldier to boot; by the time the enemy's come close, they'll have already regretted aggroing you in the first place. You'll also need the Quick Switch talent so you can start maiming your enemies as soon as they engage you after you shot them with your Arquebus.

 

Character Build Details.

 

As mentioned above, this character must be an Aumaua from The Living Lands.

Background is up to you; I chose Colonist for the bonus to Survival as I want my buffs to last as long as possible (hint: Flask of War Paint.)

 

Starting Attribute Scores

MIGHT: 21 (18 base, +2 Aumaua, +1 The Living Lands)

 

CONSTITUTION: 7 (base)

 

DEXTERITY: 17 (base)

 

PERCEPTION: 16 (base)

 

INTELLIGENCE: 10 (base)

 

RESOLVE: 7 (base)

 

Final Attribute Scores

MIGHT: 27 (18 base, +2 Aumaua, +1 The Living Lands, +1 Gift from the Machine, +1 Effigy's Resentment: Edér, +1 Galawain's Boon, +3 Pensiavi mes Rei)

 

CONSTITUTION: 10 (7 base, +3 Girdle of Eotun Constitution)

 

DEXTERITY: 20 (17 base, +3 Ring of Thorns)

 

PERCEPTION: 20 (16 base, +1 Song of the Heavens, +3 Lilith's Shawl)

 

INTELLIGENCE: 10 (base)

 

RESOLVE: 7 (base)

 

Talents & Abilities

 

Note: This character can be built as a pure melee or pure ranged variant as well, depending on your talent selection. I will illustrate those in the next post. Whisper of Treason is granted by Munacra Arret.

 

Equipment:

• Munacra Arret
• Sanguine Plate (enchanted to Superb + Crush proof)
• Lilith's Shawl
• Gauntlets of Accuracy
• Ring of Thorns
• Pensiavi mes Rei
• Girdle of Eotun Constitution
• Shod-in-Faith
• Pliambo per Casitas (enchanted to Superb + a Lash of your choice)
• Tidefall (enchanted with a Lash of your choice)

 

So How Does It Work?

 

Here are the key points:

 

Defense:

• Because of your stellar MIGHT and elevated DEXTERITY and PERCEPTION scores, your Fortitude and Reflexes are pretty good. You can therefore have your casters use AoE spells that target those defenses with ease even if the Lady of Pain is into the fray.
• Your Will is subpar, although wearing Munacra Arret gives you a handy +15 boost that makes it decent. A Dragon Meat dish will make up for the three points of RESOLVE you have given up. However, your Will is still weak so do not buff the Lady of Pain's attacks when fighting against enemies that can charm/confuse/dominate you or the rest of your party will be in for a world of hurt. Always keep a Scroll of Defenses handy.
• Your Deflection sucks, but that is the point: You need enemies to crit you so you can unleash Frenzy (from Sanguine Plate) and Consecrated Ground (from Shod-in-Faith.) This turns you into a killing machine that just can't be stopped (Consecrated Ground heals 10 points of Endurance per second for 10 seconds; plus the healing bonus you get from MIGHT, and your MIGHT happens to be insanely high.)
• Your DR, on the other hand, is stellar so you can easily soak up hits and crits without breaking a sweat. Besides, Tidefall restores 20% of the damage you deal as Endurance and you happen to deal A LOT of damage with it. So you are practically immortal. When fully buffed, your DR will be 31 against Slash and Pierce, 28 against Crush, 25 against all elemental damage except Shock (which is 17.)
• Your insanely high MIGHT score sends your Constant Recovery through the roof, so you heal fast even without Tidefall.

Offense:

• This is where the build truly shines. Because of your massive MIGHT score, your damage output never ends and you are pairing it with weapons whose base damage is the highest (and therefore benefit the most from the % increase you get from MIGHT and talents.)
• Your +10 Accuracy from PERCEPTION (actually +20 when buffed with Champion's Boon) guarantees you will almost always hit and often crit. Add a Potion of Merciless Gaze and a Scroll of Valor (or Flask of War Paint) to the mix, and you'll crit like there was no tomorrow.
• Make sure you are wielding Pliambo per Casitas when combat starts. If the enemy is distant enough, use a Scroll of Valor right away to get a +15 Accuracy boost; otherwise go for Disciplined Barrage which gives you +10 almost instantly. While the enemy approaches, shoot them; this will cause them a lot of damage and inflict a -5 penalty to all their defenses before they can do anything.
• In the meanwhile, have your Priest cast Champion's Boon (and Crowns For The Faithful if you want to boost your Deflection and Will for a particular encounter) on the Lady of Pain. If they are not already active on the Lady of Pain, activate Savage Attack and Vulnerable Attack.
• As the enemy gets close and engages you, switch to Tidefall. Your high DEX score paired with Armored Grace and the Quick Switch talent will enable you to land a hit almost immediately, and it will hurt. Big time.
• The Gauntlets of Accuracy offset the Accuracy penalty from Savage Attack; your DEX score offsets the attack speed penalty from Vulnerable Attack. You'll be actually surprised how fast this character attacks considering they are wearing plate armor, wielding a two-hander, and using Vulnerable Attack.
• When fully buffed, your Accuracy at level 12 will be 116 (63 base, +12 Superb weapon, +6 Weapon Focus, +20 Perception, +15 Scroll of Valor or War Paint). Your Ranged Damage will be 60-90 (+25% from the lash enchantment; Arquebus has 6 DR bypass); your Melee Damage, 40-57 (+25% from the lash enchantment; 5 DR bypass from Vulnerable Attack.)
• The Dungeon Delver talent gives you a 10% bonus damage when critting, which is always nice.

 

End Game Screenshots.

Having been taken with 1.06, these screenshots show an inflated Deflection score and a deflated Accuracy score by the same amount. Don't forget this build was created with 2.0 in mind (but as the screenshots show, it works already pretty well in 1.06.)

 

Fully buffed; ranged.

 

 

 

Fully buffed; melee.

 

 

[AndreaColombo]

[Reserved to illustrate the pure-melee and pure-ranged variants of the build, which are Coming Soon™.]

 

Pure-ranged Variant

The pure-ranged variant revolves around a few core principles:

 

• You want to deal as much damage per hit as possible; this is unchanged from the "main" variant of this build. Hence, you will be still using an Arquebus.
• The DR bypass from the Arquebus stacks with the DR bypass from Penetrating Shot, so you will be using both to obtain a whopping 11 DR bypass.
• Because you'll stand in the back line most of the time, you won't get hit as often. Hence, you will let go of the Sanguine Plate + Shod-in-Faith combo in favor of ligther armor that doesn't slow you down as much, and perhaps a pair of Boots of Speed.
• Also as a consequence of the above, you don't need to stack up as much DR. You will not side with the Crucible Knights to get the Second Skin talent, but rather with the Doemenels to get The Merciless Hand (which so beautifully offsets the -30% crit damage of the Arquebus.)
• Of course your talent selection is going to change, as you will not need melee-focused talents such as Savage Attack or Vulnerable Attack (you may want to hold onto Quick Switch in case some enemies decided to venture too close.)
• The Whisper of Treason ability you get from Munacra Arret, an extra I wouldn't normally use with a melee build (pure or otherwise), becomes a valuable asset in the pure-ranged build: If an enemy gets too close, you whisper-of-treason them and resume shooting at distant targets, thus taking advantage of the Marksman talent.
• This build works in great synergy with other melee party members, seeing as Pliambo per Casitas has the Marking ability (which gives +10 Accuracy to a party member attacking the same target) as well as the Disorienting ability (which applies a -5 penalty to the target's defenses, but for a time too short for the Lady of Pain to take advantage the next time she shoots.)

 

Your Accuracy and damage output when fully buffed won't change: 116 for the former; 60-90 for the latter. However, you will have 11 DR bypass instead of 6, and your crits will not only do full damage (The Merciless Hand talent offsets the -30% crit damage multiplier from the Arquebus) but 10% more (from the Dungeon Delver talent.)

 

Talents & Abilities

Some talents and abilities are "mandatory" for a pure ranged build:

• Marksman
• Gunner
• Penetrating Shot

Some are inherent to the Lady of Pain build:

• Weapon Focus/Specialization/Mastery: Soldier
• Confident Aim
• Armored Grace

Others are really up to you. As mentioned above, you may want to hold onto Quick Switch for enemies that get close to you, that you may slice them right away with your Great Sword. You may want Shoot On The Run unless you too, like me, disabled the recovery penalty from movement through the IE Mod. You may want to build your Fighter more defensively because you'll be wearing lighter armor, taking the Vigorous Defense and Critical Defense abilities (whereas you won't probably need Knock Down.) Or you may hold onto Two-Handed Weapon Style to maximize damage output when you are forced to switch to melee.

 

 

Pure-melee Variant

This variant is actually very similar to the "main" variant described in the OP, with but a few differences:

 

• Because you give up on opening fights with an Arquebus, you are free to replace your Weapon Focus/Specialization/Mastery Soldier with Adventurer and go melee with an Estoc. Hence, you can stack the Estoc's DR bypass and the DR bypass from Vulnerable Attack to a whopping 10.
• Also because of the above, you will not need the Quick Switch talent any longer. You may still open fights with a ranged weapon if you like the idea of getting a "free" hit through before you even start, but you'd be using a War Bow to that end; War Bows attack faster than Arquebuses and you have a whopping DEX score, so chances are you can switch to your Estoc immediately after shooting an arrow and still have enough time for your recovery to expire before the enemy reaches you. If your enemy is not distant enough for this, give up on the War Bow and welcome them with a Disciplined Barrage + Knock Down instead.
• There are a few talents worth considering instead of Quick Switch. My pick is Bonus Knock Down, as I find it a great asset to have in melee combat. Alternatively, you may want to pick Envenomed Strike, which deals over 100 points of raw damage when your MIGHT score's fully buffed (92.5 when it isn't); Rapid Recovery, if you feel the need to make up for not using Tidefall to restore 20% of the damage you deal as endurance; Interrupting Blows, if you enjoy Interrupt builds (but when fully buffed, your Interrupt score is already plenty good and the talent won't likely make a difference.)
• My weapon recommendation is The White Spire Estoc, which you can purchse from Dunstan at Crucible Keep (and should of course enchant to Superb.) The reason is of course its Disorienting ability, which inflicts a -5 penalty to your target's defenses per hit. Make it work in combo with Knock Down, which inflicts Prone status, and you're in for a crit fest that gets more ridiculous by the swing.

Edited July 18, 2015 by AndreaColombo

[Torm51]

Sounds like a murder ball I Like it. I like playing Paladins and and am looking for a damage OT build for my next play through. Gives me good ideas

[AndreaColombo]

Added the pure-ranged and pure-melee builds to my second post.

 

If you've read about my pure-ranged build earlier this morning, it might be worth going through it again as I've made a few changes and additions.

[chickenhed]

This is great, AndreaColombo. What I like about it is that it's a good outline for any melee 2h weapon class. As Torm51 implied, the outline of your build can be applied broadly with good effect.

[AndreaColombo]

Addendum

 

I forgot to mention that this build (in all its variants) makes extensive use of Rauatai Sweet Pie to further boost its DEX score (as seen in my screenshots, where the Lady of Pain has 22 DEX.)

 

The Rauatai Sweet Pie can be crafted from Cocoa, Sugar, and Fruit which are all fairly common, low-cost ingredients; alternatively, it can be bought in taverns; chances are you won't have a problem keeping some in your quick slots at all times. It provides a handy +2 bonus to DEX (which is what we're really after) as well as +10 Endurance which is a nice bonus since the Lady of Pain's CON ain't her strongest attribute.

 

It is worth mentioning that the pie also has a whopping 300-second duration. When I play the Lady of Pain I tend to pump its Survival skill to 10 (to which Sanguine Plate adds another +2 for a total of 12) which makes it last north of 400 seconds. So you'll be walking around with a DEX score of 22 more often than 20.

 

 

Errata

 

In the pure-ranged variant's description, I wrote that your level-12 Accuracy remains unchanged at 116 when fully buffed. That is incorrect: Because you'll also have the Marksman talent—and you'll likely be targeting distant targets over 90% of the time—your Accuracy is actually 121.

 

 

Attack Speed comparison (with a Great Sword)

 

I recorded a video (locked at 30 fps) of the Lady of Pain attacking the same target as a 10-DEX naked Fighter to compare attack speed. The Lady of Pain had a DEX score of 22 (36% attack speed bonus), she was wearing Sanguine Plate (50% recovery penalty reduced by 16% with Armored Grace), and she had the Vulnerable Attack modal active (20% recovery penalty.)

 

Both characters were almost perfectly synchronized; however, because DEX also affects attack animation speed, the Lady of Pain landed her hits a few frames before the 10-DEX Fighter.

 

A frame by frame comparison revealed the following:

 

10-DEX Fighter

Attack: 30 frames

Recovery: 50 frames

Total: 80 frames

 

Lady of Pain

Attack: 24 frames [30/(1-0.36)=22 ; 2-frame mismatch between math and observed in-game behavior]

Recovery: 60 frames [50*(1+0.5-0.16+0.2-0.36)=59 ; 1-frame mismatch between math and observed in-game behavior]

Total: 84 frames

 

How attack speed works is subject to debate, although frame by frame analysis suggests things don't work exactly as advertised in-game. I plan on running more tests in the future; these are just some results I got by running a quick preliminary test out of curiosity.

 

 

 

 

When The White March is released, I will post updated screenshots at level 14 and explain my talent and ability choices for levels 13 and 14. I will not, however, post any updates concerning the equipment until I've beaten the expansion (I don't want to spoil the loot for myself for the sake of the thread.) I will also probably post a new character build with a catchy name in a separate thread

Edited July 27, 2015 by AndreaColombo

[KDubya]

Nice guide with really good formatting and presentation.

 

 

Now a few questions/comments.

 

1.) Why go with a 10 intellect? With a 3 you'd have 7 more points to put somewhere, perception could be good for more interrupt currently or more accuracy after 2.0, more resolve would be good to reduce being interrupted or even more con to give you more hit points as you plan on getting hit anyway. knockdown goes from 5 seconds to 3.5 seconds which is long enough compared to the benefits of 7  more stat points. Is it for the duration of the shod in faith boots?

 

2.) The return on another +1 might is less than what +1 dex would get you. 37 might and 22 dex does less dps than 36 might and 23 dex, especially if you have the +25% from mastery and the +20% from savage attack. Going with the Dread Archipeligo for the dex boost might be better.

 

3.) Boreal dwarf would be a comparable substitute. The might would be the same, dex can still be a 17, 18 with Dread Archipeligo, and the +15 accuracy to two of the more common enemy types is a noticeable buff when it is in play. You'd lose out on a second arquebus shot unless you added in the perk that gets you another weapon slot that I can't think of the name. Plus you'd be a dwarf which is infinitely better than any other race.  

[AndreaColombo]

1.) Why go with a 10 intellect? With a 3 you'd have 7 more points to put somewhere, perception could be good for more interrupt currently or more accuracy after 2.0, more resolve would be good to reduce being interrupted or even more con to give you more hit points as you plan on getting hit anyway. knockdown goes from 5 seconds to 3.5 seconds which is long enough compared to the benefits of 7  more stat points. Is it for the duration of the shod in faith boots?

 

2.) The return on another +1 might is less than what +1 dex would get you. 37 might and 22 dex does less dps than 36 might and 23 dex, especially if you have the +25% from mastery and the +20% from savage attack. Going with the Dread Archipeligo for the dex boost might be better.

 

3.) Boreal dwarf would be a comparable substitute. The might would be the same, dex can still be a 17, 18 with Dread Archipeligo, and the +15 accuracy to two of the more common enemy types is a noticeable buff when it is in play. You'd lose out on a second arquebus shot unless you added in the perk that gets you another weapon slot that I can't think of the name. Plus you'd be a dwarf which is infinitely better than any other race.

 

 

Hi KDubya,

 

1) I do not know whether INT affects the duration of the Consecrated Ground spell from Shod-in-Faith; if it does, it would be one more reason not to dump it as Consecrated Ground is an integral part of this build. However, the reasons why I chose not to dump INT are actually these:

• In general, I don't particularly enjoy min/maxing; therefore I chose not to go for extreme min/maxing with this build. There is something about seeing an abysmal score in any given stat on my character sheet that just rubs me the wrong way. I dropped CON by 3 points because I knew I could wear a belt that would make up for it; likewise, I dropped RES by 3 points because I knew I could gain them back through a Dragon Egg dish or a Dragon Meat dish.
• I like INT as an attribute and generally try to pump it when I can, and not to dump it in any case. For this build in particular, I wouldn't like to shorten the duration of my Knock Downs (in fact, I wish I could pump INT to 18 to make them last 7 seconds instead of just 5; in two seconds I could likely score one or two more crits on my prone target.)

Both points boil down to personal preference, and it is certainly possible to apply min/maxing to this build to further optimize its DPS.

 

2) For this particular build I really wanted to pump MIG as high as possible to see how high a damage figure I could get in my character sheet, but sacrificing a couple points in MIG to further boost DEX is certainly a good alternative (choosing Dead Fire Archipelago and/or sacrificing Hiravias instead of Edér to the blood pool.)

 

3) Indeed; I noticed dwarves also have +2 MIG shortly after posting this thread. I guess that's a testament to how little I play dwarven characters I would still go for Aumaua because I like the character model better and I'm big on aesthetics, but dwarves are certainly a viable alternative (if not an even better one due to the Accuracy bonus you mentioned.)

[L4wlight]

Interesting build! May I ask how you achieved this enormous amount of resolve? (32 with Base of 7)

[Nobear]

Interesting build! May I ask how you achieved this enormous amount of resolve? (32 with Base of 7)

 

I'm guessing Crowns of the Faithful, crazy powerful priest buff spell. It also improves Per and Int, but not as much. Note those screenshots do say "fully buffed."

[AndreaColombo]

It is indeed the Crowns of the Faithful spell (its +6 bonus to PER is overwritten by Champion Boon's +10 bonus.)

 

One thing I forgot to mention about those screenshots is that they do not show the effects of Frenzy, which adds +4 MIG [doesn't stack with Champion's Boon], +4 CON, and +33% attack speed (my character had not been critted when I took those.)

 

A good strategy is to cast Crowns of the Faithful on the Lady of Pain immediately after she gets critted, so she can reap the benefits of Frenzy while being protected from further hits/crits.

 

 

Attack Speed comparison (with a Great Sword and Frenzy)

 

I've run another attack speed test by recording a 30-fps video with Shadow Play. This time I wanted to check the impact of the Frenzy ability's +33% attack speed bonus (everything else is the same as in the previous video.)

 

As expected, the bonus only applies to recovery time, leaving the actual attack speed unchanged. Here's what I observed running a frame-by-frame analysis:

 

 

Attack: 24 frames [30/(1-0.36)=22 ; 2-frame mismatch between math and observed in-game behavior]

Recovery: 46 frames [50*(1+0.5-0.16+0.2-0.36-0.33)=42.5 ; 3.5-frame mismatch between math and observed in-game behavior*]

Total: 70 frames [(70/84)-1=16.7% actual increase in total attack speed]

 

* The recovery bar over the character's head actually takes exactly 42 frames to go from full to empty, thus corroborating the math. However, there seems to be a 4-frame delay from the moment the bar is empty to the moment the character attacks again. This is consistent with what was observed in this thread I linked earlier.

Edited August 2, 2015 by AndreaColombo

[AndreaColombo]

Attack Speed comparison (with an Arquebus)

 

One more attack speed test, this time with the pure-ranged build of the Lady of Pain. For this test I had the Lady of Pain don Sanguine Plate, even though for the pure-ranged build I suggest you wear lighter armor (how much lighter is for you to decide.)

 

So: 22 DEX (+36% attack speed which applies to everything); plate armor (50% recovery penalty reduced by 16% with Armored Grace); Penetrating Shot (20% recovery penalty); Gunner (20% faster reload).

 

10-DEX Fighter (w/ Gunner talent)

Attack: 53 frames

Recovery: 76 frames

Reload: 162 frames

Total: 290 frames

 

Lady of Pain

Attack: 44 frames [53/(1+0.36)=39 ; 5-frame mismatch between math and observed in-game behavior]

Recovery: 85 frames [50*(1+0.5-0.16+0.2-0.36)=90 ; 5-frame mismatch between math and observed in-game behavior]

Reload: 120 frames [162/(1+0.36)=119 ; 1-frame mismatch between math and observed in-game behavior]

Total: 249 frames

 

 

Measuring attack speed with firearms is a lot more tricky than with melee weapons; however, the overall mismatch between math and observed in-game behavior is 1 frame (249 observed; 248 expected.) which equals 0.033 seconds at 30 fps; not really something that would dramatically impact your DPS unless the fight was extremely long (which isn't often the case in PoE; much less so when using the Lady of Pain.)

[Nobear]

Lady of Pain

Attack: 44 frames [53/(1+0.36)=39 ; 5-frame mismatch between math and observed in-game behavior]

Recovery: 85 frames [50*(1+0.5-0.16+0.2-0.36)=90 ; 5-frame mismatch between math and observed in-game behavior]

Reload: 120 frames [162/(1+0.36)=119 ; 1-frame mismatch between math and observed in-game behavior]

Total: 249 frames

 

Two things:

 

1) Doesn't Penetrating Shot reduce attack speed rather than recovery speed?

 

2) Are you certain that Dex is added to the other recovery modifiers, or might it be multiplied at the end after the recovery modifiers have been added? I don't know which it is. I'm curious. I just assumed Dex would be multiplied at the end to everything, but maybe not.

[AndreaColombo]

Hi Nobear,

 

1) I'm pretty certain everything that says "attack speed" in the game only affects recovery except DEX (which affects everything) and stuff that explicitly relates to reloading (e.g. Gunner talent and one of the Chanter's chants.) I can test it next weekend to confirm.

 

2) Quite certain. Generally, bonuses in Pillars of Eternity are additive, then multiplicative. DEX is an exception when it comes to actual animations (e.g. attacking or reloading), as in those contexts it is applied last with a X / (1+Y) formula. Not sure why that would be the case, but that's what makes the math return true

 

 

Next weekend I will probably open a new thread to run and discuss these tests.

Edited August 3, 2015 by AndreaColombo

[AndreaColombo]

Quick update:

 

• Ability choice for level 13 is Sundering Blow.
• Talent choice for level 14 is Apprentice's Sneak Attack.
• Sneak Attack works on Prone targets, so you're going to exploit it in combo with Knock Down. In light of this, Bonus Knock Down becomes the best talent choice for replacing Quick Switch in the pure-melee build.
• Tidefall has been changed and no longer has the ability to drain life from targets. It does however have the ability to shorten the duration of beneficial effects on them and steal 10% from their attack speed (basically it speeds you up while slowing them down); if at all possible, it is even more powerful.

 

As far as soulbound weapons go, St Ydwen Redeemer will likely be a good substitute for Tidefall for this build (even though the change to Tidefall makes it very competitive); its ability to proc Pillar of Faith is awesome as that spell can inflict the Prone status, which works in combo with your Apprentice's Sneak Attack talent.

 

There's a fairly beastly soulbound Estoc too, whose name defies me, that is briefly shown in the trailer for the expansion. It is my understanding that it can be bound to any class but cannot be unequipped afterward. That makes it a perfect choice for the pure-melee build. It can inflict Paralyzed to the target, which would be insane in and of itself, but in this build it also works in combo with Apprentice's Sneak Attack. I was/am very keen on the main build, but this Estoc actually makes me want to try to pure-melee variant as well so looks like I have two play throughs to look forward to

 

I will review other equipment after going through the expansion (I'm going to start a brand new game so it's going to take a while.)

 

Note that there appears to be a bug whereby Weapon Mastery doesn't stack with Weapon Specialization. This effectively hinders this build a lot, so hopefully it will be fixed very soon.

[MasterCipher]

FYI, in beta 2.0 patch at least, food for different attributes and stack, so you can cheaply get +2 to all stats at the same time.

 

Prostitute boons, except for Serele who is once only anyway, don't stack with themselves, but they stack with resting bonuses. So you can add another +2 Mig from the female dwarf on the 2nd floor of the Salty Mast. Retrain your Dex and Con to 18s before hiring her for the first time. She enjoys your company she refunds your coin and she becomes an available stronghold hireling. You can still lay down with her in the stronghold, but no boon is granted  Repeat with the other staff if desired then retrain back to your normal stats and they'll continue to buff you for free.

 

I wouldn't be surprised if the food stacking is unintended and will be patched. 

[narkhen]

This build with the new Tidefall stat (steal 10% of atack speed on each atack) You dont need anything else, when fury (sanguine plate) is up, your recovery time falls to 0, attacking

all the time without stopping, I dont know if this is a bug, If you want can do a vid, but with this your fighter become a murderer machine,I doubt even if a rogue would do this damage, this is to much op and only has level 8 lol

[AndreaColombo]

Hi narkhen,

 

what you describe has been confirmed by QA as being a bug and it will likely be fixed in next week's patch. Basically these weapons are supposed to only steal 10% attack speed from the target but are set to steal a much higher amount.

 

Nevertheless, the stealing ability is still pretty good. Hope you're enjoying the build

[AndreaColombo]

So, after beating the game with The White March, here's a build update

 

Talents & Abilities

• As mentioned above, Apprentice's Sneak Attack is an ideal talent for this build as it works in combo with Knock Down.
• Bonus Knock Down therefore becomes the best replacement for Quick Switch if you're not opening the fight with an Arquebus shot.
• Ghost Hunter is a good alternative to Weapon Mastery as you trade in +10% damage against everyone for +25% against Spirits, who are among the most annoying foes the game has to offer (and abound in Durgan's Battery, as well as in the Alpine Dragon fight.) Both choices are good, so it's really up to personal preference.
• Sundering Blow is a great ability for this build to have as it gets you +20% damage as well as a nifty DR reduction. If you knock them down first, you'll increase your chances to crit with Sundering Blow, thus increasing its duration. Then you can disable Vulnerable Attack and enjoy an increased attack rate while the enemy is down and has -8 DR on top of that.

Additionally, there are two minor talents that can be acquired in Stalwart by playing the games at the local inn:

 

• Dozen's Luck gets you a 4% Crit-to-Hit conversion that stacks with the same bonus from Durgan-reinforced armor. You'll still be critted in every encounter, especially if you play on POTD, but some protection from further crits is definitely welcome. After all, the only crit you need is the one that unleashes Frenzy + Consecrated Grounds.
• Flick of the Wrist gives you +4 Accuracy with Dagger and Stiletto; it would be completely useless for this build if it didn't apply to soulbound weapons as well. This may or may not be a bug (they might have made it apply to soulbound weapons to give them an edge since they can't be enhanced with Durgan steel), but for as long as this is the case, it is worth taking.

 

Equipment

 

• Garodh's Chorus in its "offensive" version (i.e. picking all the offensive dialog options) is a great alternative to Munacra Arret. Not only does it get you +3 MIG, thus freeing up Pensiavi mes Rei for another party member—it also gives you Retaliate, which is very good to have for a build that gets hit as often as this one.
• If using Garodh's Chorus, I suggest replacing Pensiavi mes Rei with a Ring of Protection as the +9 bonus to your Will defense will partly make up for the +12 bonus you lost by giving up on Munacra Arret. +9 to Fortitude and Reflex is bonus, and you give up on Whisper of Treason which I never used anyway (but if you do, Munacra Arret + Pensiavi mes Rei remains a perfectly valid array.)
• St Ydwen's Redeemer is a very good weapon to have when you fight Vessels, but is otherwise inferior to Tidefall. I therefore suggest you keep the latter as your main, switching to the former when fighting Vessels.
• You definitely want to enhance Sanguine Plate and Tidefall with Durgan steel, as that gets you +31% attack speed (in total) as well as protection from crits and Hit-to-Crit conversion. Tidefall was already ridiculous and becomes even more so with this enhancement.
• Pets are merely cosmetic, except for Concelhaut's Skull which actually lets you summon Concelhaut to fight for you. A no-brainer for any character, imho.

 

Consumables

 

• In my play through I found Potion of Deleterious Alacrity of Motion to be much more valuable than Flask of War Paint, and sipping one at the beginning of combat to be an even better opening move than the Arquebus shot. With a high Survival score (which I usually go for when I play this build), the potion's duration is enough to outlast most encounters and the increase in DPS you get from the +50% attack speed is invaluable.
• Scroll of Defense (cast by someone else in your party) is a must, so try to always have some handy for any fight that is tougher than a trash mob.

 

Buffs

 

• Champion's Boon remains the main buff for the Lady of Pain—the one that makes her DPS skyrocket.
• Devotions for the Faithful takes the second place, with its whopping +20 Accuracy. This is the best Accuracy buff in the game bar none and supersedes both Scroll of Valor and Flask of War Paint (even though the latter also comes with a +10% damage bonus.)
• Blessing offers a damage bonus as well as a +5 Accuracy bonus that, for some reason, stacks with Devotions of the Faithful. Probably bug. Until it gets fixed, using these spells in conjunction for a total +25 Accuracy is a must.
• Crowns for the Faithful is of course a no-brainer to buff your defenses.
• Dire Blessing offers a Hit-to-Crit conversion that stacks with that offered by Durgan steel, so it's worth casting as your last Priest buff.
• In my original draft I purposefully left out resting bonuses because of their "volatile" nature (you had to travel to specific places to get specific bonuses and they would only last for so long.) As of 2.0, however, resting in Caed Nua offers +3 to a single stat for a whopping three rests, and Caed Nua is in the middle of the map; basically, you can carry the bonus around all the time (not that it would be strictly necessary to have it on at all times, but it is definitely possible to have it for every boss fight including Thaos.) I usually go for +3 DEX, but +3 MIG is also good (and brings your total MIG score when fully buffed to a ridiculous 40.)

 

 

When fully buffed with the above, if you took Weapon Mastery your melee damage output is 41-59 (plus 20% when using Sundering Blow; +15% when using Apprentice's Sneak Attack) with 5 DR bypass. Your attack animation plays 45% faster (from 25 DEX) and your recovery time is 57% faster (-50% plate; -20% Vulnerable Attack; +16% Armored Grace; +16% Durgan-reinforced armor; +45% DEX; +50% Potion of Deleterious Alacrity of Motion) when attacking with St Ydwen's Redeemer (72% faster if attacking with a Durgan-refined Tidefall.)

Edited September 14, 2015 by AndreaColombo

[Deus2015]

Greetings AndreaColombo,

 

I was referred here by your response in a thread I made, and after reading through all this I wanted to take a moment to say great format and great information - PoE can have such a wealth of depth, and your guide is helping to digest it all.

[AndreaColombo]

I wanted to wait until I installed 2.03 to make this post, but as the IE Mod's maintainers haven't been around since mid-October, I prefer to wait with the patch as I'd rather stick to 2.02 with the mod than to play without. So here's a build update.

 

 

Weapon Choice

 

My Tidefall + St Ydwen's Redeemer pure-melee run has proven most satisfactory, as Tidefall is notoriously beastly and St Ydwen's Redeemer can positively one-shot Thaos's minions. However, I have been thinking of a few more options that could kick ass on the Lady of Pain, and I've come up with the following:

 

The Hours of St. Rumbalt (crit build)

 

 

The Hours of St. Rumbalt is conveniently available for sale in Dyford, which means it can be picked up early, and comes with the Accurate 3 enchantment that adds +12 Accuracy—a perfect match for its Annihilation and Overbearing properties. Of course the Lady of Pain is a high-damage mistress, so you'll eventually want to enchant it to Superb to get the +45% damage, but you can easily go with Accurate 3 until you get the Sky Dragon eyes. Here are the key points of this alternative:

 

• Pick up the sword in Dyrford as soon as you can. Even though you'll be missing out on the damage multiplier until you're in Act III, the early +12 bonus to Accuracy will make you crit a lot, which is the meat and potatoes of this weapon choice.
• Durgan Steel has awesome synergy with this weapon, as it converts 20% of your hits to crits and provides an extra +30% crit damage bonus that stacks with Annihilation by design (confirmed by Josh.) Be mindful of the fact that your hit-to-crit conversion from Durgan Steel does not stack with the Priest spell Dire Blessing, however (so just don't waste that spell on the Lady of Pain after using Durgn Steel on The Hours of St. Rumbalt.)
• For this build, you will want to ditch the Knights of the Crucible and side with the Doemenels in Defiance Bay. This will grant you the Merciless Hand talent, which gives you another +30% crit damage bonus. Another +10% will come in Act III from the Dungeon Delver talent that was already part of this build.
• When all is said and done, your crit damage multiplier will be 50% (crit) + 50% (Annihilation) + 30% (Durgan Steel) + 30% (Merciless Hand) + 10% (Dungeon Delver) = +170% and your crits will prone your target to boot, thus making it more likely for you to land a crit the next time. The prone-on-crit effect also works in combo with Apprentice's Sneak Attack, granting you an additional +15% damage on your next attack.
• A major drawback of this choice is that if you want to crank it to 11, you need to invest 2 Sky Dragon eyes to make it Superb. The same is not true of blades that already come with the Superb enchantment, like Tidefall.

With this build, you'll have an attack animation of 24 frames and a recovery of 33 frames (29 + 4-frame delay), which is pretty good for a two-hander in plate armor with Vulnerable Attack (this is assuming you sip a potion of Deleterious Alacrity of Motion, which I strongly advise you do at the beginning of every encounter.) However, if you want to attack even faster, you may want to check this other option.

 

 

Blade of the Endless Paths

 

 

The Blade of the Endless Paths is the only two-hander in the game to have been blessed with the Speed enchantment, which reduces recovery by 20% and stacks with pretty much everything else that does the same—including the speed bonus from Durgan Steel. It is quite serendipitous that it happens to also be an Estoc, which means you can activate Vulnerable Attack to enjoy a whopping 10 DR Bypass. Here are the key points:

 

• Switching from Great Sword to Estoc means you lose something on flexibility, as Great Swords conveniently deal Slash/Crush damage and Estocs only deal Piercing. Now, the game doesn't feature an exceeding amount of creatures that are immune to Piercing, but you may want to keep a Pollaxe or St Ydwen's Redeemer in your second slot to handle just those cases.
• The Blade of the Endless Paths already comes with the Superb enchantment, which means there's no Sky Dragon eyes expenditure to go through to maximize your damage output. Vulnerable Attack stacks with its 5 DR bypass property, so you can have a 10 DR bypass to complement your ridiculously high DPS.
• The Speed enchantment, paired with Armored Grace, Durgan Steel (on both your armor and weapon), a 25 Dexterity score (17 base, +3 Ring of Thorns, +3 Caed Nua resting bonus, +2 Rauatai Sweet Pie), and a potion of Deleterious Alacrity of Motion will make you attack for 24 frames and recover for a measly 15 (11 + 4-frame delay.) This is with Vulnerable Attack active and patch 2.02, which means Armored Grace reduces your recovery penalty by 16%. In 2.03 you'll be 4% faster than that just on accounts of Armored Grace; turning off Vulnerable Attack against low-DR enemies will get you very close to no recovery (or right there; I haven't tested it.)
• If you want, you can swap your Gauntlets of Accuracy for Ryona's Vambraces to get an extra 3 DR bypass, for a total of 13. This is going to be particularly useful against high-DR targets such as Adra Animats and Dragons, but way overkill against most other enemies so you may consider swapping bracers depending on the enemy you're fighting. Props to Boeroer for suggesting this.

 

2.03 Fighter update

 

Quickly going through the Fighter update in patch 2.03:

 

• CC immunities mean your Knock Downs won't always be the "get out of jail free" card they used to be. However, the addition of a +20% damage multiplier to them means they remain relevant even against enemies that are immune to the prone affliction.
• Indeed, by taking Knock Down, Bonus Knock Down, and Sundering Blow, you now have five attacks per encounter at +20% regardless of any other effect (and there's no immunity against the -8 DR from Sundering Blow anyway.)
• Clear Out gets scaling damage, which is neat but not enough to make it a big deal. It is still an ability you want to have in case mobs surround you and start interrupting you at speed, as a Clear Out would quickly rid you of the inconvenience. The extra damage is gravy, but hardly something I'd actively seek out in combat (when you hit as hard as the Lady of Pain, you generally want your enemies to stay close rather than to be pushed away from you.)
• Into the Fray also gets scaling damage, and it would be an excellent ability if it wasn't so damn easy for its pull effect to be blocked by pretty anything that might stand in the way between your target and you. However, because it is so easy for your enemy to be blocked and stop at a distance from you, I still advise against taking Into the Fray.
• Armored Grace gets a boost from -16% to -20% recovery penalty. A great ability has just become better. A must-have it was, and a must-have it remains.
• Disciplined Barrage was changed from +10 to +15 Accuracy, making it a perfect substitute for Scroll of Valor whenever you run out of scrolls—or whenever the scroll's effect expires and combat's still ongoing (a great thing about Disciplined Barrage is its instantaneous casting time; as soon as the scroll expires you can click it and keep maiming your foes with high Accuracy.)

 

Look how cool I am, or of Shameless Self Promotion.

 

Edited October 30, 2015 by AndreaColombo

[Boeroer]

Man, those stats!

I like both weapons a lot - but since I used Hours of St. Rumbalt a lot with rogues and barbs I now would vote for the Blade of the Endless Paths. Most of the time you can just turn off Vulnarable Attack - but against those high DR dudes 10 or even 13 DR bypass will be so sweet.

[KDubya]

The quarterstaff on level 3 of the Endless Paths (need the Sabre for the statue) also has the speed enchantment as well as reach. Works nice on Ciphers who try to stay out of melee range.

 

Another thought is to use Half Mast - Superb, overbearing pole ax and swap to Blade of the Endless Paths for the speed whenever the prone effect is not needed or is immune. Not sure how exactly you get it from the Adra Dragon and it does come really late in the game but it starts with Superb so there is that as a bonus.

[aweigh0101]

soldier focus really is the absolute best weapon group in the game.

great sword 1: tide fall. nuff said.

great sword 2: the hours of st. rumbault = prones on crit, extra crit dmg.

great sword 3: the temaperacle = prones on crit, comes w/ corrosive-lash already enchanted.

pike: tall-grass. prones on crit, extra crit dmg, AND higher chance of critting.

this is what my 4 martials rock; PC/Eder/Zahua/Pallegina prone-critting everything in sight is hilarious !

for my two casters they ALSO rock soldier focus...

caster 1: long-feller arquebus = reliable enchantment (!)
caster 2: pliambo de casita = disorienting effect on hit (!)

all 6 weapons from soldier group. plus great swords deal slash/pierce, for dealing with pesky immunities.

but wait! there's more! WARHAMMERS.

for the crushing backup weapon, we get from soldier focus group the excellent Strike Hard, the Godynthur (STUNS ON CRIT!!) and the other one that's sold in Hearthsong that has the Speed enchantment.

[Boeroer]

Not to mention that the Shatterstar (war hammer) causes 1 sec interrupts and has +0.5 crit damage multiplier (if I recall correctly). The high interrupt is not mentioned as enchantment. This weapon is great for an interrupting build since it's faster than morning stars. Together with the stunning war hammer in dual wield style this is a great disabling setup.

 

Then there is also Aedrin's Wrecker, a superb arbalest that prones and stuns on crit.

 

I'd also say that soldier is the best weapon focus overall.

 

But back to the ladies: I would also use Half Mast as a backup weapon for The Blade. All these stupid rain blights that are immune to pierce damage really annoy me. You can get that if you talk to the Adra Dragon and agree to set her free. Then go to the shrine in the northeast of Black Meadow. There you'll find the Dragon Huntress - Falonriddledididdle or something like that. Don't use the dragon's medaillon on her but instead kill her (I don't think you get all the loot when you use the medaillon). That not only plsses off the dragon big time but also gets you Half Mast and the Autmn Fire armor (right?).