[CLASS BUILD] Darcozzi Commendatore

[PrimeJunta]

This is a variant of the Darcozzi Forward Observer: it makes use of the paladin's unique ability to stack Accuracy on allies in the same way.

 

However, it plays very differently as it is an aggressive ranged striker rather than a relatively passive leads-from-the-front tank. It's built around another Marking weapon, namely the St. Garam's Spark pistol. It's a much more active build as it has relatively high DEX.

 

Stats: MIG 16 CON 6 DEX 15 PER 16 INT 18 RES 6

 

Talents:

Flames of Devotion!

Intense Flames!

Zealous Focus!

Liberating Exhortation!

Inspiring Liberation!

Scion of Flame

WF: Ruffian!

Gunner

Coordinated Attacks!

Sworn Enemy

 

Gear:

St. Garam's Spark with Burning Lash. Stack Int any way you can, it's crucial. PER and MIG come next. Light armour.

 

Strategy:

Have as much of the party as possible target the same enemy (everyone gets +10 ACC from St Garam's Spark and +10 ACC from Coordinated Attacks on top of the +6 from Zealous Focus). Use the Liberating Exhortations at suitable moments for another +10 for selected characters for a pretty extended duration. When a suitable moment presents itself, hit with Flames of Devotion (haven't tallied up the full bonus from Intense Flames and Scion of Flame but it's pretty significant). If necessary, prepare with Sworn Enemy. For extra lulz give one of the frontliners a Marking weapon as well (primary or secondary) so the Commendatore gets a +10 bonus on those Flames of Devotion too.

 

Should mesh well with a chanter (Sure-Handed Ila), and benefits from two or three hard-hitting front-liners. Might be interesting to try a party with Kana and Sagani, with Sagani supplying the extra front-liner and serious damage potential of her own.

 

Pros: 

Active character -- high Dex, light armour. Significant damage potential when it counts. Ranged character, which leaves room in the front line for another hard hitter. You can round off the paladin abilities with either offensive or defensive ones as you like. St. Garam's Spark is way easier to acquire than any of the other Marking weapons, so you can get rolling with it sooner.

 

Cons:

Somewhat fragile. Misses out on Outworn Buckler. Not as good alpha-striker potential as a ranged paladin built around a heavier ranged weapon.

 

I just briefly tried this build and it seems to work, but haven't played extensively with it.

Edited January 1, 2016 by PrimeJunta

[Boeroer]

Nice idea with the pistol. I never used that. I'm always fond of builds that make good use of items that normally go by the board.

 

What armor and other gear did you use? Boots of Zealous Command I guess? Ring of Overseeing? Archer's gloves could be nice for this guy.

 

Just one question: Last time I tested the marking enchantment and Coordinated Attacks they only affected the nearest party member that targeted the same foe - and not all of them. So the +20 ACC buff only applied to one single ally. Was that changed? That would be great.

[PrimeJunta]

Argh, I didn't check for that. The numbers flicker quite a bit in the thick of the action. So probably not.

 

I shuffle items around a quite a lot as new ones come in. I don't normally keep Durance in the party which means I want one or preferably two Rings of Unshackling (or the same enchantment on something else). Ring of Overseeing unless I swapped armor with Aloth and gave him one instead. Used various gloves, among others Archer's. Didn't think of using Boots of Zealous Command on this one but they're an extremely good idea.

 

I'm currently playing with it a bit more to see how it shapes up. So far so good...

 

Edit: come to think of it, it'd be kind of fun to make a Coordinated party. Cladhaliath, Shame or Glory, St. Garam's Spark, and Blade of the Endless Paths all in use at the same time. Give Pallegina Coordinated Positioning too. If it works like you say it does, that way most people would get an extra +10 - +20 ACC most of the time without any particular intervention...

Edited January 1, 2016 by PrimeJunta

[Boeroer]

Could work. I don't know if Marking and Coordinated Attacks can be stacked on one party member - that would be even better.

Two "markers" left and right and a crit build (rogue, barb) in the middle who would receive +40 ACC.

 

There's also a wand that has Marking by the way.

Edited January 2, 2016 by Boeroer

[PrimeJunta]

According to Torm51, Marking and Coordinated Attacks do stack.

Which wand would this be?

Edit: Looked it up, Cgadob's Hazel. Thanks for the tip!

Edited January 2, 2016 by PrimeJunta

[Boeroer]

I know that Marking stacks with Coordinated Attacks. But does Marking stack with Marking? And Coordinated Attacks with Coordinated Attacks? That would be so powerful. I never tested that - and I really don't know why.

 

Right, it's the Hazelhoff. Thanks for looking it up. I'm online with the phone... aaand still in bed.

[PrimeJunta]

Ahh, LOL no, I kinda doubt they stack with themselves. It would get ridiculously powerful fast. Worth a test though!

 

Hmmm... how would this sound for a party themed on coordination?

Front line:

• Pallegina with Shame or Glory and Outworn Buckler, stacked Flames of Devotion
• Grieving Mother with Cladhaliath enchanted for Marking, build skewed to raw damage
• Edér with Blade of the Endless Paths
• Itumaak

Second line:

• Sagani with Stormcaller, talents split between pet-coordination and straight damage
• Commendatore Petucci with St. Garam's Spark, built as above
• Aloth with Cgadob's Hazel, built for maximum Blast damage

It'd be a little low on CC potential, but Aloth and GM should be able to get the job done between them. Or, I could replace her with Zahua or the Devil of Caroc, and just use scrolls and potions to make up for the lack of a second caster. I think that way Aloth would be pretty busy casting to get much shooting done though...

[Boeroer]

But sounds solid. I seldomly use more than two casters (ciphers included) because I don't love all the micro that comes with them. And that was never a problem. Two CC guys are sufficient.

 

What race do you use for your Commander? Wood Elf?

[PrimeJunta]

Mechanically it would make sense for the ranged attack bonus, but an Ocean Folk human was more thematically appropriate so I went with that.

[Boeroer]

I see. Then shoot him from behind to get more ACC and damage! Tehe - you could even create a special char for that, "The Traitor" or "Brutus". Also useful for generating monk's wounds.

[amichai]

I know this is an Old Post, and I hope necro-ing it like this is ok... but how would this sort of build work today? I know that there were rebalancing patches that changed lots of stuff between release and the current state of the game, and I'm not sure how much that would have affected this. I did see Boeroer's comment on a similar post from earlier this year which linked to this one...

And there were no caveats in it, so maybe that is answer enough? I did also see Boeroer's lovely build for Counselor Ploi, but I'm interested in a ranged paladin for no really good reason.

[Boeroer]

Hello and welcome. It works just like it used to. There were no changes to the workings of those particular abilities of the (Darcozzi) Paladin and also the items didn't change.

For a ranged "marker paladin" you can use three diff. unique ranged weapons, you can find them here:

https://pillarsofeternity.fandom.com/wiki/Marking

The earliest ranged one is still St. Garam's Spark (pistol). For good shots with Flames of Devotion (and no weapon switching) however the arquebus Pliambo per Casitàs might be the preferabe choice ifyou want to squeeze everything out of your alpha strikes. It's pretty difficult to get that weapon early though.