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

[AlexDeLarge]

Ok Andrea, the reason i'm asking is because i'm planning a Triple Crown run (with full party). Would you recommend your build for such a rough challenge, or should i stick to a more standard tank/dps dual wield fighter? Seems like your variant most likely shines in the late game, but early game, it would be a big chore to keep him alive.

[Raven Darkholme]

Stuff like Confident Aim is also influenced by IN.

Has anybody tested, whether IN affects the new Constant Recovery which is timed now?

The "poor man's" Recovery I have on my pala seems to be influenced by it and I'm really thinking about rerolling for higher IN.

[mosspit]

@Alex

 

I personally feel that Triple Crown (or ToI in general) favours consistency in terms of combat performance. Which means dumping stats is unnecessary in general.

 

For a fighter's case, you have your duration skills like Vigorous Defence and Disciplined Barrage, cc durations and aoe of skills like Take a Hit. Also with Will Saves. It depends on your party composition but you would want to avoid being too weak in a certain aspect, which with stat dumping you will likely to be.

[AndreaColombo]

Edit - misread the message I was answering. Will write again from home in a few hours.

Edited November 25, 2015 by AndreaColombo

[KDubya]

Stuff like Confident Aim is also influenced by IN.

Has anybody tested, whether IN affects the new Constant Recovery which is timed now?

The "poor man's" Recovery I have on my pala seems to be influenced by it and I'm really thinking about rerolling for higher IN.

 Intellect affects the duration of your regen. A 3 intellect lasts something like 58 seconds and a 10 gets something like 90 seconds.

 

In my opinion the effect is pretty lackluster to start with so a reduced duration of a weak ability is not much of a penalty. 

 

For a good ability like Vigorous defense a dumped 3 intellect still gets like 12 seconds I think. It is less than the standard 20 seconds but if you place the 7 dumped stat points in resolve to balance out the Will defense you'd be ahead by 7 deflection all the time and behind by 13 for the eight seconds difference in the buff duration. A fair trade off in my eyes.

[Raven Darkholme]

 

Stuff like Confident Aim is also influenced by IN.

Has anybody tested, whether IN affects the new Constant Recovery which is timed now?

The "poor man's" Recovery I have on my pala seems to be influenced by it and I'm really thinking about rerolling for higher IN.

 Intellect affects the duration of your regen. A 3 intellect lasts something like 58 seconds and a 10 gets something like 90 seconds.

 

In my opinion the effect is pretty lackluster to start with so a reduced duration of a weak ability is not much of a penalty. 

 

For a good ability like Vigorous defense a dumped 3 intellect still gets like 12 seconds I think. It is less than the standard 20 seconds but if you place the 7 dumped stat points in resolve to balance out the Will defense you'd be ahead by 7 deflection all the time and behind by 13 for the eight seconds difference in the buff duration. A fair trade off in my eyes.

 

You're joking, right, RIGHT?

[AndreaColombo]

I'm making a new post to answer Alex so he gets a notification and sees my answer

 

I had originally replied under the assumption you'd make a TCS run (for which I would strongly advise against this build) only to realized you explicitly mentioned a TC run with a full party of six. In that case, the LoP is absolutely viable.

 

At the beginning of the game, it should be fairly easy for you to keep both Heoden and Calisca alive during the ambush; their presence should get you through the dungeon with ease. Once you're out of the dungeon, you can make it to Gilded Vale without any other encounter and gain a level through non-violent quests. Then you can recruit Edér and Aloth to keep around as fodder until you can recruit the rest of your crew.

 

As for the LoP's low CON and RES scores:

 

• 2.03 increased Fighers' base Deflection by 5 points, making them the highest-Deflection martial class. This means the LoP with 7 RES in 2.03 is the same as a Fighter with 12 RES in 2.02.
• Pearlwood Chicken gives +2 CON for a fairly long time and is available for purchase already at The Black Hound inn in Gilded Vale for 10cp a serving. I recommend using it as much as possible at any stage of the game (though of course its effects are going to be felt the most during the first few levels.)
• Using a shield for the first few levels will increase your survivability a lot; the Accuracy penalty won't be much of an issue with 16 PER. Until 2.0 PER was giving Deflection, which means everyone's Accuracy was generally lower and monsters' Deflection was generally higher. Monster stats were not re-balanced around this change, so using a shield with 16 PER is absolutely viable. Selecting The Living Lands as your homeland, as I suggest for this build, conveniently makes you start the game with a large shield you can replace with a smaller one in Gilded Vale (if you want a milder penalty to Accuracy in exchange for some Deflection.) Additionally, you can take Disciplined Barrage as your 1st-level ability to get +15 Accuracy for 10 seconds 1/encounter, which helps making up for the shield.
• As KDubya rightfully points out, Vigorous Defense is a great ability to have as it is practically a single-target Scroll of Defense 1/encounter. You can take it instead of Clear Out without undermining the melee prowess of the build.

[AlexDeLarge]

Thanks for the reply Andrea. I would like to mention that, early game you can reach level 3 very easily on your main, just by talking to the hanged cipher on the tree in Gilded Vale. And you can sell the belt that gives you endurance to Heoden at the start, for a whooping 1500g or something (his prices are super generous for clients), giving you enough money to buy an entire party of level 2 adventurers from Gilded Vale, so there's no need to waste time with Aloth/Eder.

 

Also: A party of Tankadin (3 per 3 dex, max other stats), your fighter build for the frontline, dps barb and full support priest (3 resolve, using arquebus at start, then switching to weapon and shield later for more defense) in 2nd row, and finally ranged dps cipher (3 resolve) + machine gun wizard at the back (also with 3 resolve, notice a pattern here?) - would this be optimized enough to withstand a TC run? Or is it too squishy? I figure i can counter the concentration issue from lack of resolve from my backline with Holy Meditation, and since most of my chars have a ton of Int, this offsets the Will Penalty as well.

[AndreaColombo]

I normally keep RES in the 14-16 range on my pure-support priests and drop it to 7 on most other builds, except Wizards where I dump both CON and RES to either 5 or 3. In general, for a TC run I wouldn't want too many characters with 3 RES in the party as you'll face enemies in waves and they can flank you and mass interrupt your characters (as well as hit/crit often if your Deflection is too low.) At higher levels it's much less of a problem, but at the beginning of the game you definitely want some more protection.

 

I am not sure a pure tank would serve you well; I know for sure it wouldn't have in 2.02, but 2.03 brought along some changes in engagement that might make pure tanks more viable (I do not know.) I suggest looking into KDubya's Juggernaut Monk build to fight alongside the LoP, and perhaps Boeroer's Cipher build (though DPS ranged Cipher with Stormcaller can be pretty strong too.)

[Boeroer]

Pure tanks just don't work any more. Enemies just run past them. You need some ooomph to stop them. 

[mosspit]

@Alex

 

I don't know how viable is a 3 dex 3 per pally is in post-2.0. But in post-2.0, AI was changed to move away from tank-and-spank. I don't exactly know the breakpoint but it means that enemies might judge that the tanks are too weak and will eat a disengagement attack to run past. The converse is also true in which if any party members are too squishy, they might as well have big neon light signboard that says come hit me. I dislike 3 dex on pallies (or anyone in general) because you will still want want them to perform some actions in addition to tanking. 3 dex makes their recovery and actions really slow. To the point where you fall into situations where you need immediate actions from them, but they are still recovering from previous actions.

 

And yes, it is easy to get about 2.2k extra gold from Heodan near the start by selling everything including the pre-purchase dlc ring and Disappointer pistol. If you want to be more efficient in the exp gains, you can

• In Cliant LIs, make a beeline to the exit via the "collapsed wall" route and sneaking past the Skuldr group.
• In Glided Vale after the hanging tree scene, you can get to the inn via the slope on the left to avoid the entrance of the collapsed ruins which will give you discovery exp (150exp iirc).
• Recruiting new adventurers at this point will have their exp bar be slightly more than 2k behind your main PC
• At this point after resting, your calendar should read 20 (or 19 is you rushed through the beginning). Save and reload and go the inn 2nd flr to grab the Rymgard Mantle. It will spawn on the 20th day.
• Completing easy quest like "Against the Gain" and going back to Cliant Lis to go through the content there including disarming all traps in the trap room (Mechanics 3) will get you lvl2 on your adventurers and lvl3 on PC and premade NPCs
• Alternatively, you can do quests and such until you just hit lvl3. Then you recruit new adventurers at lvl2. Twice as expensive, but it will give you the smallest exp gap of 1.5k between them and the main PC

And to add to Andrea's comment on food, I will add Ale to it. It costs only 5-6 currency but gives 2 DR, which is equivalent to an armour upgrade. 2 DR is really nice for early game.

 

I basically restarted ToI enough times that the first 10% of the game is on "auto-pilot"

Edited November 25, 2015 by mosspit

[AlexDeLarge]

Only finished this game once (started playing directly on POTD, found Hard too manageable after half of chapter 1) so my knowledge is still limited. But you guys - Andrea, Boeroer, mosspit - offer so much value here, you're reducing my learning curve by a ton. Thanks a lot mates!

Edited November 25, 2015 by AlexDeLarge

[Vorad]

3 dex 3 per pally is fine I have done 2 play-through after white march release one with npc pallie(darkozzi moon) and one with main char goldpact island aumaua. For as long as you go full might + accuracy aura you'll do just fine plus in the very hard encounters you will be using scroll of valor + priest buffs whill will pump up the perception/accuracy even more. You could probably sacrifice a bit of constitution for some perception but it depends on playstyle in the end. I usually go max intellect, resolve, might the rest in constitution(usually 15) especially if your main is a pallie then even reflex won't be a big deal due to faith and conviction plus the real nasty stuff targets fort/will and with the above stats those are 120+ each unbuffed when combat starts.

 

My only regret is that island Aumaua seems to under perform in comparison to Moon Goodlike due to racial. In most fights in the early game with 2 front-liners(e.g. paladin + monk/chanter/paladin... fighter) you can do just fine simply by body-blocking/funneling. In the lategame paladin also gains nice aoe damage and because of max might + int that's more than enough to keep a bunch of enemies busy. Plus what I usually do just after the pallie gathers enemies around him the wizard or druid(or cipher) cast their aoe cc from stealth position.

 

For me I would dare go as far as claiming that I personally cannot play a paladin effectively any more without actually maxing int,might,res sadly in order to do so you need to dump the rest. If I go for more rp style stats(all positive average between 12-15) the class feels to under-perform in my opinion. This with regards to paladins cause monk is a bit different for example.

Edited November 25, 2015 by Vorad

[Boeroer]

AndreaColombo: Somebody posted a really nice portrait of a red-faced female Island Aumaua and you said that you'd like to have that for you LoP - can you remember? I can't find it in the forum anymore. Can anybody help me with that?

[L4wlight]

I posted it here:

http://forums.obsidian.net/topic/83181-nice-item-ability-combinations-what-works-and-what-doesnt/page-2

[Boeroer]

Wow - that was quick. Thanks a lot!

I learned that you can also find it via google. The forum search is annoying as hell with all that flood control.

[Mocker22]

Quick question related to the build. Does the attack speed bonus from Frenzy stack with Hastening Exhortation?

[AndreaColombo]

Quick question related to the build. Does the attack speed bonus from Frenzy stack with Hastening Exhortation?

 

It doesn't; just run a quick test.

[Boeroer]

AndreaC: would you still use the Sanguine Plate once Outlander's Frenzy becomes 1/encounter?

[AndreaColombo]

Tbh, I'm mostly keeping that armor for the looks; Frenzy doesn't stack with any of the buffs I typically use in spades so I could easily replace it with something else even now. I also wouldn't take Outlander's Frenzy for the LoP for the same reason (doesn't stack with my usual buffs) but of course YMMV.

[AndreaColombo]

The White March pt. II update.

 

This update is based entirely on data mining and using the console after installing PX2; if any new talents can be gained throughout the expansion, I am currently unaware. I will post about them, if there are any, after my next play through.

 

Because the build in the OP is outdated and not everyone has the time and patience to go through 5 pages to catch up on updates, I'll post the build in its entirety in its current incarnation, highlighting different options where applicable.

 

 

Concept & Premises

 

 

This build is a heavy-armored DPS Fighter that stacks as many damage bonuses as possible and unleashes them as fast as possible on her enemies, while being sturdy enough to take some punishment.

 

It doesn't venture into extreme min-maxing territory because I don't generally enjoy that very much, but you can easily apply extreme min-maxing to this build if it suits your play style.

 

In this guide I will take for granted that you'll have a Priest in your party as this build works best when buffed by a Priest (don't they all?); it is not, however, mandatory to have one for this build to be effective.

 

 

 

Race, Class, Background

 

 

 

Race: Aumaua

I chose Aumaua as the race for this build as it enables you to start with a MIG score of 20 (18 base, +2 Aumaua). It is worth noting that Dwarves offer the same possibility and, in their Boreal variety, sport a handy Accuracy-boosting racial ability; the only reason I didn't go for Boreal Dwarf is that I don't enjoy playing short races. The build can work with Humans as well, although your starting MIG will be 1 point lower (18 base, +1 Human.)

 

Class: Fighter

I chose this class for two main reasons:

1) Fighters sport the highest base Deflection of all classes and share the highest starting Accuracy with Monks, Rogues, and Rangers

2) Their abilities are mostly oriented toward single-target melee DPS, which is my preferred play style.

The same basic principles from this guide can be applied to Monks and Rogues if they suit your play style better; however, Monks will require that you sacrifice an attribute to invest points in CON, and Rogues won't be as sturdy.

 

Background: The Living Lands - Colonist

The Living Lands was an obvious choice for the +1 MIG bonus; Colonist was chosen back when Survival's only use was to boost the duration of consumables, as there was a selected number of potions I made extensive (ab)use of. As of 3.0, Survival is even more important as it provides some powerful resting bonuses that stack with the bonuses you get from resting in Caed Nua, so I recommend investing heavily in this skill.

 

 

 

 

Attribute scores

 

 

 

These are the final attribute scores, complete with a detailed breakdown:

 

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

 

CON: 10 (7 base, +3 Girdle of Eoten Constitution)

 

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

 

PER: 20 (16 base, +1 Song of the Heavens, +3 Caed Nua resting bonus)

 

INT: 10 (10 base)

 

RES: 7 (7 base)

 

Notes:

• Effigy's Resentment is the talent you get for sacrificing a story companion to the blood pool is the Skeanite temple in Dyrford Village. To get +1 MIG you need to sacrifice either Edér or Maneha.
• The choice of Pensiavi mes Rèi over Maegfolc Skull, as well as the decision to forgo PER-boosting items, will be discussed in the Equipment section of this guide.
• If you choose the 0-recovery version of this build (discussed in the Weapons section of this guide), DEX becomes much less important to you. You may therefore elect to leave it at 13 (10 base, +3 Ring of Thorns) or even 10 (7 base, +3 Ring of Thorns) and invest those point elsewhere. Keep in mind, however, that even if you play the 0-recovery build, DEX remains useful in reducing the length of your every other action (e.g. attack animation, casting from scrolls, sipping potions, etc..)

 

 

 

 

Talents & Abilities

 

 

 

I typically avoid to mandate a specific order for talents and abilities as I prefer to leave freedom to pick them at whatever pace suits your preferences and play style. I will therefore merely list them in no particular order and briefly elaborate on the merits of these choices.

 

Talents:

Weapon Focus

Weapon Mastery

Two-Handed Style

Bonus Knock Down

Savage Attack

Vulnerable Attack

Apprentice's Sneak Attack

Runner's Wounding Shot

 

Notes:

• Bonus Knock Down is, in my opinion, a great talent to have as 3 uses of Knock Down per encounter are pretty good. However, with many creatures having been made either immune or resistant to Prone, the ability has admittedly lost some appeal. If that's the case with you, you may want to forgo this talent and take another instead. I suggest either Quick Switch (if you're going to alternate often between different weapon sets), one of damage vs. creature type talents (situational, but handy against enemy types you generally struggle against), or the elemental talent applicable to your chosen weapon lash (if applicable.)

 

Story talents:

Scale-breaker

Dungeon Delver

Blooded Hunter

Song of the Heaves

Dozen's Luck

Second Skin OR The Merciless Hand

 

Notes:

• I originally suggested siding with the Crucible Knights in Defiance Bay to get the Second Skin talent (+2 DR while wearing armor), and it remains a good choice. This build has a generally low Deflection and being able to withstand punishment from your enemies almost entirely relies on DR, so packing it in spades is always a good idea. However, as PX2 now enables you to enchant this armor to Legendary, and 3.0 enables you to get extra DR as a resting bonus from Survival, you may elect to side with House Doemenel instead and get The Merciless Hand talent, which nets you a much-appreciated +30% crit damage (with this build you'll be critting most of the time, so you'd be using it often.)

 

 

Abilities:

Knock Down

Disciplined Barrage

Confident Aim

Weapon Specialization

Armored Grace

Fearless OR Critical Defense

Sundering Blow

Charge

 

Notes:

• Fearless is a great ability against Dragons, notoriously among the toughest enemies in the game, but has limited applications outside of that. What's more, your Priest can make your whole party temporarily immune to a Dragon's Fear Aura with a 1st-level spell. If you have a Priest in your party, and/or don't find Dragons especially problematic, and/or you're going to use Steafast as a secondary weapon, skip Fearless and go for Critical Defense instead (a good passive that converts incoming Crits to Hits, and incoming Hits to Grazes; comes fairly handy on a low-Deflection build like this one.)
• Charge deals a pretty good amount of damage—especially with this build's MIG score fully buffed—and instantaneously "teleports" you to a priority target regardless of how many foes stand in-between. I find it of great tactical and offensive value and suggest you take it instead of Triggered Immunity.
• There are reasons why I decided against Triggered Immunity for this build despite its low Deflection. Triggered Immunity looks great on paper, but it comes fairly late: By that time, even with an average CON score* your Endurance pool will be significant and not many foes will be able to take 10% of it away in a single blow—much less when you factor in this build's sky-high DR. Should I be proven wrong in my next play through, I'll swap Charge for Triggered Immunity, but I have reason to doubt it will happen. (* Additionally, keep in mind you're going to use Pearlwood Chicken to boost your CON to 12, and Gift from the Machine grants you another +5% Endurance which is the same as an extra point of CON.)

 

 

 

 

Skills

 

 

 

 

Stealth: 2 (0 base, +1 Dungeon Delver, +1 Blooded Hunter)

 

Athletics: 2 (0 base, +1 Fighter, +1 Galawain's Boon)

 

Lore: 10 (9 base, +1 Fighter)

 

Mechanics: 1 (0 base, +1 Dungeon Delver)

 

Survival: 14 (9 base, +1 Fighter, +2 Colonist, +2 Sanguine Plate)

 

Notes:

• This build isn't meant for stealthy jobs, so I chose to invest 0 points in Stealth. If you need to scout head, just send someone else; the Lady of Pain is all about full-frontal aggression.
• It is a known fact that you only need one party member with a high Mechanics score; that party member needn't be the Lady of Pain.
• The self-heal ability from Athletics is nice, but I generally pack a good number of Potions of Major Endurance and bring a Priest by, so I can do without it. If you feel differently, Athletics can be a good investment.
• Lore 10 is something I wanted mainly because The Lady of Pain is my protagonist, and Lore is the one skill that unlocks the most dialog options. That it also enables you to cast from scrolls is bonus.
• Survival is the one skill I always pumped in this build, and now more than ever as it grants rather powerful bonuses for resting in the wilderness. I suggest taking the highest DR bonus you can most of the time, switching to Accuracy vs. Enemy Type if having trouble in a specific encounter, or increased consumable duration if you see fights last longer than your Potion of Deleterious Alacrity of Motion (shouldn't happen very often if at all.)

 

 

 

 

Equipment

 

 

 

Head: Sanguine Plate's Helm

Neck: Hiro's Mantle

Body: Sanguine Plate (enchanted to Legendary; Damage-proofed; Durgan-enhanced.)

Hands: Gauntlet's of Accuracy OR Gauntlets of Swift Action

Ring: Pensiavi mes Rèi

Ring: Ring of Thorns

Boots: Shod-in-Faith

Belt: Girdle of Eoten Constitution

 

Notes:

• Sanguine Plate's Helm brings a rather underwhelming ability to the table: -50% Stun duration, -50% Knock Down duration. I'm not saying it's useless, but Maegfolc Skull would serve this build's purpose a lot better. The reason why I stick with Sanguine Plate's Helm is mostly aesthetic, as I've been waiting for a matching helmet since the game's release. If you don't care about aesthetics, I suggest you go for Maegfolc Skull to get +4 MIG (and Unbending); this will free you a ring slot as you'll be able to give Pensiavi mes Rèi to another party member.
• Hiro's Mantle replaces Lilith's Shawl as my choice for the neck slot based on three considerations:
  1) I can get the same +3 bonus to PER from resting in Caed Nua. It is true that item and resting bonus would stack, but I don't need the extra Accuracy and I can give Lilith's Shawl to another party member.
  2) Hiro's Mantle gives Retaliation, which is also good to have on low-Deflection builds, as well +3 DR against Crush and Pierce damage. This enables you to proof your armor against Slash damage and increase your protection.
  3) It looks totally rad with Sanguine Plate and I've been looking for a way to use them in conjunction since I first came up with this build.
• Gauntlets of Swift Action are mandatory if you want to play the 0-recovery version of this build. They will also greatly boost your DPS on all other variants, and I feel like you don't really need more Accuracy than this build already gets (you'll be critting most of the times anyway; once you crit, it doesn't matter if it's by 1 point or 100.) If you feel differently, however, the Gauntlets of Accuracy are always a popular choice.
• Sanguine Plate + Shod-in-Faith are a popular combo and work great on low-Deflection builds like this one: When enemies crit you, they'll trigger Frenzy (from Sanguine Plate) and Consecrated Ground (from Shod-in-Faith) simultaneously, thus making you stronger while you heal. It is worth noting that bonuses from Frenzy do not stack with Priest buffs and Potion of Deleterious Alacrity of Motion, which I make extensive use of with this build. Sanguine Plate, however, also gets you another +2 bonus to the Survival skill.

 

 

 

 

Weapons

 

 

 

Weapon choice offers a number of options for this build, depending on how you want to play it.

 

0-recovery variant

This is, in my opinion, the most powerful (highest DPS) variant of this build. Your weapon of choice is the Blade of the Endless Paths, enchanted with a lash of your choice and refined with Durgan steel.

 

Math for your recovery time is as follows:

 

Recovery = 100% + 35% (Durgan-enhanced plate) -20% (Armored Grace) +20% (Vulnerable Attack) = 135%

 

Bonuses = 50% (Potion of Deleterious Alacrity of Motion) * 20% (Speed) * 15% (Durgan steel) * 15% (Gauntlets of Swift Action) = 138%

 

135% recovery - 138% bonuses = 0% recovery (3% goes to waste)

 

You'll be attacking with a two-hander packing a lot of damage bonuses, 10 DR Bypass, and 25% of the damage dealt reapplied as a lash against 25% of the target's relevant DR. That's without taking into account other bonuses like hit-to-crit conversion (20% from Durgan steel; 20% from Dire Blessing), crit damage bonus (+40% if you sided with the Crucible Knights; +70% if you sided with House Doemenel), and Accuracy advantage over your enemies' Deflection.

 

 

Hulk Smash variant

This is what I believe to be the second best option. Your weapon of choice is Abydon's Hammer, which grants you another +4 MIG bonus and comes with the Mythic enchantment once fully unlocked (+18 Accuracy, +65% damage.) In terms of absolute damage and Accuracy, it will outperform the Blade of the Endless Paths; however, the latter has several advantages among which: higher crit damage bonus; higher hit-to-crit conversion; higher DR Bypass; lash damage; higher attack speed. These make the Blade of the Endless Paths the better of the two when comparing raw DPS numbers, although Abydon's Hammer also has some pretty cool abilities: Abydon's Power, which prones Vessels on crit (but I prefer to deal with Vessels with St. Ydwen's Redeemer); Ring of the Ancient Forge, which has a cool animation and Stuns enemies in a 4m range (this is what makes this variant the "Hulk Smash!" variant); Echo of the Maker, which Frightens everyone within 3m from you and is a passive ability; and Abydon's Labor, which deals damage and pushes your enemies away, but fatigues you (I wouldn't use it, but YMMV.)

 

I suggest keeping this hammer in your secondary weapon slot at all times even if you play the 0-recovery variant of this build so you can deal with enemies that are immune to Pierce damage.

 

Math for your recovery with the hammer is as follows:

 

Recovery = 100% + 35% (Durgan-enhanced plate) -20% (Armored Grace) +20% (Vulnerable Attack) = 135%

 

Bonuses = 50% (Potion of Deleterious Alacrity of Motion) * 15% (Gauntlets of Swift Action) = 72.5%

 

135% recovery - 72.5% bonuses = 62.5% recovery, or 34 frames before applying DEX.

 

If you really want to be the Hulk, though, you need to complement your weapon choice with the following:

 

• Replace Sanguine Plate's Helm with Meagfolc Skull.
• Replace Hiro's Mantle with Lilith's Shawl.
• Replace +3 PER resting bonus with +3 MIG resting bonus from Caed Nua (you recoup the PER from Lilith's Shawl.)
• Optional: Play as a male Aumaua and wear Monk's Outfit instead of Sanguine Plate to get a more "hulk-ish" outlook

Now you've got a 45 MIG score (the highest attainable in the game without cheating) when fully buffed and can positively smash things like The Hulk, at no Accuracy cost. You lose Retaliation and some DR, but you gain Unbending 1/encounter which fits the Hulk theme.

 

 

Lord of the Crits variant

(Masculine 'cause the play on words with Lord of the Rings wouldn't have worked otherwise.)

This version aims at packing as much crit damage bonuses as possible on a weapon with the Overbearing enchantment (Prone on crit.) Your weapon of choice is The Hours of St. Rumbalt (enchanted to Legendary, Durgan-refined, and with a lash of your choice.) This weapon comes with the Annihilating enchant, which grants a 50% crit damage bonus; to that, you'll add 30% from Durgan steel, 30% from The Merciless Hand talent (you must side with House Doemenel in Defiance Bay to get this), and 10% from the Dungeon Delver talent for a total of +120% damage on top of the 50% normally granted by crits (hence, your crits will deal +170% damage instead of +50%).

 

Throw in a 40% hit-to-crit conversion (20% from Durgan steel; 20% from Dire Blessing), a great Accuracy advantage over your enemies' Deflection, and the fact that your every crit prones the target (thus making it more likely that you'll land a crit the next time), and you're pretty deadly.

 

Math for recovery:
 

Recovery = 100% + 35% (Durgan-enhanced plate) -20% (Armored Grace) +20% (Vulnerable Attack) = 135%

 

Bonuses = 50% (Potion of Deleterious Alacrity of Motion) * 15% (Durgan steel) * 15% (Gauntlets of Swift Action) = 98%

 

135% recovery - 98% bonuses = 37% recovery, or 20 frames before applying DEX.

 

 

 

 

Buffs

 

 

 

These are the consumables and spells I generally go for with this build:

 

Food

Rauatai Sweet Pie (+2 DEX, for a total of 22)

Pearlwood Chicken (+2 CON, for a total of 12)

 

Notes:

• As mentioned above, when all is said and done this build will have Endurance equal to a Fighter with CON 13: 12 from her buffed CON score, plus another 5% from Gift from the Machine.
• If you play the 0-recovery variant of this build and decide to forgo DEX in favor of a different attribute, you may want to leave Rauatai Sweet Pie and pick a different food to boost the attribute you went for (I suggest INT, which is buffed by Casità Casserole.)

Potions

Deleterious Alacrity of Motion

 

Notes:

• This is the only potion you really need besides Potion of Major Endurance; the boost to your recovery time is invaluable and sends your DPS through the roof. I open every fight that is not against a thrash mob sipping one of these.

 

Spells & Scrolls

Scroll of Defense (+20 to all defenses)

Scroll of Valor (+15 Accuracy)

Dire Blessing (+20% hit-to-crit conversion)

Devotions for the Faithful (+20 Accuracy)

Champion's Boon (+10 MIG, +10 PER, +5 DR)

 

• Additional spells are situational (mostly immunity to afflictions).
• Crowns for the Faithful is another very good buff, but it is of much less import for this build. It helps in very tough fights, but I don't generally waste time casting it.

 

 

Edited February 20, 2016 by AndreaColombo

[Ineth]

Very cool.

 

What about the whole "start combat with a shot from an Arquebus" thing that you mention in the opening post, though? Is that no longer worth it in 3.0?

[AndreaColombo]

What about the whole "start combat with a shot from an Arquebus" thing that you mention in the opening post, though? Is that no longer worth it in 3.0?

 

It's not that 3.0 made it no longer worth it so much as I changed my play style since then. I prefer to sip a potion of Deleterious Alacrity of Motion as my opening move, then brute-force my enemies in melee.

 

Opening with a ranged weapon then switching to melee is still perfectly viable for those who prefer alpha-strike openers. In that case, Quick Switch is most definitely a talent to consider instead of Bonus Knock Down.

[AndreaColombo]

It looks like the time limit to edit your posts on this forum is, in fact, 48 hours. Since I can no longer edit my earlier post, I'll make do with a new one.

 

The Hulk Smash variant of this build has been growing into a bit of its own thing and I figured I'd give a more detailed breakdown for those interested in it. Since it shares the basic principles of the Lady of Pain, I do not think it deserves its own thread; by the same token, anything that is not explicitly mentioned below can be inferred to be the same as in post #96.

 

 

Race, Class, Background

 

 

 

Race: Aumaua

Since we're going for the Hulk look and feel, this version of the build works best with a male Aumaua.

 

 

 

 

Attribute scores

 

 

 

These are the final attribute scores, complete with a detailed breakdown:

 

MIG: 35 (18 base, +2 Aumaua, +1 The Living Lands, +1 Gift from the Machine, +1 Effigy's Resentment, +1 Galawain's Boon, +4 Maegfolc Skull, +4 Abydon's Hammer, +3 Caed Nua resting bonus)

 

CON: 10 (7 base, +3 Girdle of Eoten Constitution)

 

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

 

PER: 20 (15 base, +1 Song of the Heavens, +1 Mental Prowess, +3 Lilith's Shawl)

 

INT: 17 (12 base, +1 Mental Prowess, +4 Gwyn's Band of Union)

 

RES: 7 (6 base, +1 Mental Prowess)

 

Notes:

• Mental Prowess is the talent you get for choosing the peaceful solution to the fight with Llengrath. I'm keeping it into account at character creation to end up with a higher INT score; however, as Mental Prowess comes rather late in the game, you may want to start with 16 PER / 10 INT / 7 RES as with the regular LoP build and respec after getting the talent (if you're into this use of the respec feature.)
• The extra INT serves the purpose of extending the duration of your abilities, as well as the duration and AoE of Ring of the Ancient Forge—the ability that makes this variant the Hulk Smash variant in the first place. You can bring it up to 19 with Casità Casserole.

 

 

 

 

Talents & Abilities

 

 

 

Story talents:

Scale-breaker

Dungeon Delver

Blooded Hunter

Song of the Heaves

Dozen's Luck

Mental Prowess

Second Skin OR The Merciless Hand

 

Notes:

• Even though both talents fit the Hulk theme, I suggest Second Skin for this particular build since it makes use of a much lighter armor than of plate.

 

Abilities:

Knock Down

Disciplined Barrage

Confident Aim

Weapon Specialization

Clear Out

Fearless OR Critical Defense

Sundering Blow OR Charge

Triggered Immunity

 

Notes:

• Fearless is thematically a much better fit than Critical Defense for this variant; however, as you're going for lighter armor, Critical Defense gains value and I understand you may be willing to ditch Fearless if you have a Priest in your party.
• Triggered Immunity simulates the Hulk's resilience to damage and gains all kinds of appeal because of the lighter armor.
• Clear Out replaces Armored Grace because, again, lighter armor and better thematic fit.

 

 

 

 

Skills

 

 

 

 

Stealth: 3 (1 base, +1 Dungeon Delver, +1 Blooded Hunter)

 

Athletics: 4 (2 base, +1 Fighter, +1 Galawain's Boon)

 

Lore: 8 (7 base, +1 Fighter)

 

Mechanics: 1 (0 base, +1 Dungeon Delver)

 

Survival: 13 (10 base, +1 Fighter, +2 Colonist)

 

Notes:

• Giving up on Sanguine Plate means losing a handy +2 bonus to Survival. I therefore suggest investing 10 points in it to reach a total of 13, which enables you to get the Damage Reduction III bonus.
• To achieve the above it is necessary to give up on 2 points in Lore; you'll end up with a few spare points to distribute as you see fit (they won't make much of a difference anyway.)

 

 

 

 

Equipment

 

 

 

Head: Maegfolc Skull

Neck: Lilith's Shawl

Body: Monk's Outfit (enchanted to Legendary; Damage-proofed; Durgan-enhanced.)

Hands: Gauntlets of Swift Action

Ring: Gwyn's Band of Union

Ring: Ring of Thorns

Boots: Shod-in-Faith

Belt: Girdle of Eoten Constitution

 

 

 

 

Weapons

 

 

 

Your weapon of choice is Abydon's Hammer, which grants you another +4 MIG bonus and comes with the Mythic enchantment once fully unlocked (+18 Accuracy, +65% damage.)

 

I suggest keeping the Blade of the Endless Paths (enchanted with a lash of your choice and, if you have spare ingots, with Durgan steel) in your secondary weapon to deal with enemies that are immune to Crush damage.

 

Math for your recovery with the hammer is as follows:

 

Recovery = 100% +20% (Vulnerable Attack) = 120%

 

Bonuses = 50% (Potion of Deleterious Alacrity of Motion) * 15% (Gauntlets of Swift Action) = 72.5%

 

120% recovery - 72.5% bonuses = 47.5% recovery, or 26 frames before applying DEX.

 

 

 

 

Buffs

 

 

 

Food

Rauatai Sweet Pie (+2 DEX, for a total of 22)

Pearlwood Chicken (+2 CON, for a total of 12)

Casità Casserole (+2 INT, for a total of 19)

 

 

Edited February 23, 2016 by AndreaColombo

[Boeroer]

I just imagine that MIG score with a barb & greater frenzy.

 

Why not Outlander's Frenzy? I mean Hulk is really angry most of the time. And your Sanguine Plate is gone...

Edited February 23, 2016 by Boeroer