The Darcozzi Forward Observer. Could use some input!

[Torm51]

So my current TC play through is with a Darcozzi Paladini as the Watcher.  The build "Forward Observer" as I am calling it is because he designates targets for the heavy melee party by increasing their ACC by large amounts.  A Forward Observer or FO's job in modern and not so modern militaries is and was to spot for Artillery, Mortars and Aircraft.  This would increase the accuracy of these weapons.  As most of the time the gun crews or pilots cannot see the target.  The FO in POE does this in four ways.  First by taking Zealous Focus and giving the party +6 ACC and hit to graze.  Second, by taking the Liberating Exhortation talent Inspiring Liberation which gives party members a +10 buff to ACC which can stack to +20Third by taking Coordinated Attacks at level 7 or 9.  This will enable the closest damage dealer usually a Monk, Rogue or Barb to further increase his ACC by +10.  Lastly, he will be using either shame or Glory which has the marking buff which does the same thing as Coordinating attacks (tested it stacks.  Thanks to Boer!) OR by taking Strike Hard which debuffs the enemy with Disorienting reducing all defenses by 5 and there for giving the entire party (probably better then marking) a +5 to ACC.

 

The ONLY thing I am not sure about is for my Paladin taking Flames of Devotion or Reviving Exhortation.  I am for the first time in a few playthroughs thinking of skipping FoD and it's because of my party build and the fact that I am playing on Triple Crown.  I want the MAX amount of combat revives just incase I get a bad roll or something on a Dragon fight. or other tough fight.  I will have a priest resurrect and either a Ress by Pallegina or a Res by Kana.  Pallegina's is better as I don't have to wait for 3 Chants but the second is a viable alternative.  Is having three combat revives over kill?  Build is below

 

1. Lay on Hands

 

3. Zealous Focus

 

5. Flames of Devotion if not taking Reviving.  If taking Reviving I will take Liberating here

 

7. Reviving Exhortation if not taking FoD.  If taking FoD Liberating  here.

 

9. Coordinated Attacks

 

11. Righteous Soul (must have for Dragons, spirits and Fampyrs imo)

 

13. Sacred Immolation.

Edited December 22, 2015 by Torm51

[Boeroer]

What input? Sounds nice!

 

For this build I personally would skip FoD and concentrate solely on support. In this case Reviving Exhortation. It's a great per encounter revive with a huge range.

 

If you think you have too many riviving abilities: build a barb focused on vengeful defeat.

[mosspit]

Maxing the number of revivals is not a real issue I feel. Unless you restrict against scrolls, Scrolls of Revival are readily available to any member with decent lore investment to have reviving capabilities.

 

That being said, I prefer Reviving Exhortation too. Besides range as Boeroer said, it is insta-cast. Based on my own Toi experience, I greatly appreciate the fact the skills does not need channeling prep as compared with a rez from a priest. Especially in the situations where it is needed. And the rezzed character is usually rezzed with full hp so s/he can start combat immediately. Still remember when RE used to deduct HP from the rezzed character to the point where the character gets unconscious again?

 

My last playthrough actually saw limited use of LoH lol

Edited December 23, 2015 by mosspit

[PrimeJunta]

That sounds like a really cool build. You @Torm51 and @Boeroer are on a roll here, and this is one of the ones that caught my imagination. For one thing, it's very much in tune with the class concept -- "Leader" -- while focusing on a particular aspect of it. It's not just a good build, it's an aesthetically pleasing one.

 

Personally I'm not big on Flames of Devotion. To really make it work you have to stack a lot of talents on it, which makes the paladin kind of a one-trick pony and less generally useful than if built as a tanky support character. I tried @Boeroer's "alpha striker" paladin build, and yeah, that did hurt, but IMO if your objective is to do point damage, there are classes that give up less to get there.

[JerekKruger]

That sounds like a really cool build. You @Torm51 and @Boeroer are on a roll here, and this is one of the ones that caught my imagination. For one thing, it's very much in tune with the class concept -- "Leader" -- while focusing on a particular aspect of it. It's not just a good build, it's an aesthetically pleasing one.

 

Yeah every time I see a Boerer or Torm51 character post I know I'll enjoy it (there are a few other posters who are very good too). I like this build too and have been looking for a Paladin build for a play through so I might try it. I agree that it's nice that it works both mechanically and aesthetically, that's strangely important to me in a build.

[Boeroer]

Oh thanks all.

 

Torm - I just thought about your main weapon. If you don't have issues (stylewise) with spears on paladins then maybe the Vile Loner's Lance is also a good alternative to Strike Hard. You can get it early, it has inherent +5 ACC for your paladin and -5 deflection on hit like Strike Hard.

 

Edit: the perfect weapon for the Forward Observer would be one that has Marking AND Disorienting. Unfortunately only one weapon has that: Pliambo per Casitàs. It's too slow to constantly debuff enemies with -5 defense. Maybe a custom crafted Cladhaliath would be nice?

Edited December 23, 2015 by Boeroer

[Torm51]

Oh thanks all.

 

Torm - I just thought about your main weapon. If you don't have issues (stylewise) with spears on paladins then maybe the Vile Loner's Lance is also a good alternative to Strike Hard. You can get it early, it has inherent +5 ACC for your paladin and -5 deflection on hit like Strike Hard.

 

Edit: the perfect weapon for the Forward Observer would be one that has Marking AND Disorienting. Unfortunately only one weapon has that: Pliambo per Casitàs. It's too slow to constantly debuff enemies with -5 defense. Maybe a custom crafted Cladhaliath would be nice?

Definitely.  The first thing I did when I got to Defiance Bay was head to the club and buy the spear.  I so no reason why Paladins in the POE setting cant use spears .  The only weakness is that its a one type of damage Pierce Weapon..since their are immunities now that's a disadvantage and my ranged back up weapon is also Pierce.  Although I really never use the secondary as this type of build should always be buffing/debuffing with marking/disorienting and constantly have the Outworn Buckler buff up.  Switching will have you lose both of those (unless you have the Arquebus you mentioned).  That's why I am grabbing either Shame or Glory which has Slash/Pierce or Strike Hard which is Crush/Pierce.  No creature is immune to both types of damages.

 

Lastly, that Rifle is PERFECT but this guy is contently in melee so it doesn't work :-/.  For a ranged version of this build it would rock.  but aside from the marking/accuracy job this guy has his tanking ability is also a cornerstone for the group.

[mosspit]

I think another poster was saying that the Blunderbuss Scon Mica's Roar does the disorientating effect for all 6 pellets. So it is -30 def in total. -30 def is pretty nuts and when translated to gain in acc is more effective than Marking + Disorientating lol. 

[Boeroer]

I'm 99% sure that it doesn't do that. If you hit a second time with any disorienting weapon while the target still suffers from -5 defense from the first hit the duration gets updated but the debuff doesn't stack. So why should it stack with 6 projectiles?

[Lychnidos]

This is how I imagined a paladin would play, from the first class concept presented by Obsidian. 

[Torm51]

Thanks guys!  I am writing a Lore story about him and will have it up soon.  Inspired by Boeroer!

[mosspit]

I'm 99% sure that it doesn't do that. If you hit a second time with any disorienting weapon while the target still suffers from -5 defense from the first hit the duration gets updated but the debuff doesn't stack. So why should it stack with 6 projectiles?

 

Well Boeroer, I thought I would have established the fact that I do not pull things out of my ass by now

 

For the 1% outlier, here's a screenshot to show the effects of the stacking.

 

 

Against hostiles, the indication is less direct but the effect still stacks. In any case, in the spirit of brokeness, I will leave you guys with this.

 

Edited December 24, 2015 by mosspit

[Boeroer]

Wow. See me blushing. Thanks for testing this and posting a screenshot. Good thing I didn't say that I was 100% sure.

 

Now I say that I'm 99% sure that this is not intended. AndreaColombo! Please write me a bug report!

 

Torm - it's obvious that this has to be the alpha strike weapon of the Forward Observer...

[mosspit]

Well, I do not have the audacity to say that I am 100% correct 100% of the time either. My grammar mistakes in posts can attest to that Moreover, this was not found by me so I will not take the credit for it.

 

Interaction with Blunderbuss multiple projectiles has always been a little wonky. From the old draining whip + Blunderbuss to the Combusting Wounds / Wounding shots / Blunderbuss interactions. And if I had to guess, I will guess that the modification of the Blunderbuss pellet interactions isn't straightforward. To the point where Draining Whip was changed to give focus % increase instead of just modifying Blunderbuss to trigger +2 Focus per shooting instance via the old DW (although Carlow Golan still works currently). CW interaction with Blunderbuss also has been documented way back as well.

Edited December 24, 2015 by mosspit

[Torm51]

 

I'm 99% sure that it doesn't do that. If you hit a second time with any disorienting weapon while the target still suffers from -5 defense from the first hit the duration gets updated but the debuff doesn't stack. So why should it stack with 6 projectiles?

 

Well Boeroer, I thought I would have established the fact that I do not pull things out of my ass by now

 

For the 1% outlier, here's a screenshot to show the effects of the stacking.

 

 

Against hostiles, the indication is less direct but the effect still stacks. In any case, in the spirit of brokeness, I will leave you guys with this.

 

 

Has to be a bug lol but damn not that this invalidates my build as I can still increase party ACC with ZF, Inspiring Liberation and Coordinated Attacks but it makes the other disorienting weapons crap

[Boeroer]

Think about this: Island Aumaua + Quickswitch + Scon Mica's + Casitas + Strike Hard. First shot for -30 defenses, second shot for another -5 and then a hit for another -5. Should be doable in under 5 seconds... :D

[Torm51]

Think about this: Island Aumaua + Quickswitch + Scon Mica's + Casitas + Strike Hard. First shot for -30 defenses, second shot for another -5 and then a hit for another -5. Should be doable in under 5 seconds... :D

You know whats funny is that when the game first came out people hated Island Aumaua.  Now with things like immunities in the game they are REALLY good.  Granted I have always liked them because even without immunities you have more options against DR.

[mosspit]

I started using Island Aumaua because of Soulbound weapons due to the nature of the soulbind. Otherwise, I treat Island Aumaua ability as a nice quality of life feature. I am one of those who will go into the equipment screen to change up equipment to suit the enemy composition I am going to be up against. But that does require pre-emptive knowledge of the enemies you are going to fight though.

Edited December 24, 2015 by mosspit

[Boeroer]

I always use them together with Arms Bearer and Quick Switch. Doesn't matter if paladin with FoD, a cipher or a rogue - three or even four gunshots in a row (or when you really need to down that single foe) are just awesome.

[DreamWayfarer]

While Island Aumana aren't my favorite race, I like them as Kind Wayfarer Paladins. Easier to kill steal with two guns, and with Arms Bearer I can also fit a one-handed and a shield for when I need more sturdiness.

 

Death Godlikes are nice and all, but the roleplayer in me just can't see them as very sucessful glorified travel guides with semi-holy powers.

Edited December 24, 2015 by DreamWayfarer

[rheingold]

Nice build! As some people have already stated its a support build so I'd also go for revive instead, not just because of mechanics but it also makes sense from a roleplay pov.

I'd keep fod/smite for a more attacking paladin build for the same reasons.

[PrimeJunta]

I'm seriously crushing on this build. I think I'll go with it for my next playthrough, when WM2 comes out.

 

(Also, if I also take Pallegina onboard, I can build on her Flames of Devotion to make her a serious striker, plus give her another aura for yet more "force magnifier" effects. Double the paladins, double the fun.)

[Raven Darkholme]

I used Reviving for my three chicks, it's a very good ability, go for it.

[Mocker22]

Boer you mentioned Cladhaliath as a good candidate here. One of the possible enchantments is allies attacking your target get +10 ACC. Has anyone tested if this stacks with the bonus from Coordinated Attacks? Also curious if Coordinated Attacks is going to stack with other ACC buffs. I'm assuming it stacks with Zealous Focus or what would be the point, but I still get confused by what stacks and what doesn't. Thanks

[Torm51]

Boer you mentioned Cladhaliath as a good candidate here. One of the possible enchantments is allies attacking your target get +10 ACC. Has anyone tested if this stacks with the bonus from Coordinated Attacks? Also curious if Coordinated Attacks is going to stack with other ACC buffs. I'm assuming it stacks with Zealous Focus or what would be the point, but I still get confused by what stacks and what doesn't. Thanks

I do too.  That's all been tested By Boer and they do stack.  It seems that different buffs from the same character that are abilities not item buffs stack with each other...I think.  All I do know is that they do stack.