6x The Dragon Thrashed, The Dragon Whaled

[Seeders]

The most OP build in the game that I have come across is 6 chanters with The Dragon Thrashed, The Dragon Whaled, and Scion of Flame.

 

Every fight becomes easy.  What's not to like about 6 AoE High Burn Damaging casts that don't hit party members, aren't restricted in use by engagements or rests (goes off multiple times per fight with no cast time so your guys can still use weapons), and has a large AoE.  Who would not like to see the entire screen burst in to fire only to see piles of ash when the flames settle?

 

Now since the damage of your party is completely under control and not necessary to buff further, you can build very defensively with a lot of heals, summons, charms, stuns/paralyze, and whatever else your heart desires.

 

Choosing 6 Chanters doesn't sound like a very diverse party, but it really allows you to do anything you want.  The Chanter invocations have a lot of variety along with the Talents, so its very fun to mold the base idea to how you want to play.

 

The Dragon Thrashed, The Dragon Whaled becomes available around level 8 i think.  Just use Come Softly The Winds of Death until then which basically works the same way.  It's a chant that damages everything around your characters, and it stacks between all 6.

 

Dump Dex, it doesn't affect chanting speed.

 

Max Might and Int for the damage and AOE, then put Con/Res/Per at equal levels with the rest of your points for defense. Perception cant be dumped because you want to have accuracy to hit with your chants. Feel free to experiment though, I have respecced a bunch of times during my play through.

I tried making a dual wield high dex chanter to see if it was worth it, but his damage didn't stand out at all and he died a lot which made me rest more than I wanted.

 

You'll come to realize you really dont need any other damage, and tankiness == more damage anyway since being alive means your guys keep chanting and the flames keep coming. Also you'll have summons (phantoms are great for their stun) to do even more damage.

Edited February 18, 2016 by Seeders

[Elric Galad]

Does Scion of Flames finally work on DoT ?

[Seeders]

Oh I thought it did, but didn't really test.  The damage is pretty absurd either way.  If it doesn't work then that's an extra talent you get.

[Boeroer]

No, it doesn't. You get your extra talent.

And The Dragon Thrashed awaits you al lvl 9. For the second chant I can recommend the damage shield - but chant it so that it's not applied at the same time but in succession. You will not get damaged anymore.

With a Ring of Searing Flames it all gets even better.

For a quick finish use the White Worms invocation. If there are already more than 5 corpses from your chanting then this thing is devastating. You can even lure enemies onto piles of corpses.

[Seeders]

So ive been using a different chant on each character for buffs/debuffs. Are you saying the shield chant stacks?

[Boeroer]

Not that it stacks the damage you might receive. But it refreshes it. So if you got hit for 25 damage already and have 5 left - and then the next one kicks in - you're at 30 again and it all starts from the beginning. This only works great if you are a group of tanks with high deflection and thick armor. Only the damage that comes through counts toward the damage shield.

 

Combine this with 6 times Ancient Memory and you're nearly unkillable in normal fights.

Edited February 18, 2016 by Boeroer

[Raven Darkholme]

Beware that this is NOT the most op build as you stated, but just the easiest way to get through the game.

It is clearly op enough to make the game a joke, but so is almost every other party.

Just take away 2 chanters and add a cipher and a defensive paladin.

The cipher uses mindweb, the paladin has max defenses and Sacred Immolation, which is even better than dragon slashed but comes at level 13 instead of 9.

Combine this with the DR chant and you are absolutely unkillable.

[Boeroer]

A wizard with Binding Web is also nice: stuck lowers reflex a lot and the Dragon chant targets reflex, so...

[Raven Darkholme]

A wizard with Binding Web is also nice: stuck lowers reflex a lot and the Dragon chant targets reflex, so...

Pretty much the more diverse the party is the more op it becomes, but also a LOT more work.

That's why I like to call 6 chanters lazy party.^^

[Boeroer]

Sure. Best combination of low (to no) micro and power.

[Seeders]

Against the Adra Dragon I have no Raw damage, so its tough.  I was sending waves of 12 ogres at him but they hardly dent him and get killed about as fast as I can send them.  I could probably eventually win that way but it's slow.  

 

Perhaps not the most OP build, a cipher might help.

[Wolken3156]

Against the Adra Dragon I have no Raw damage, so its tough.  I was sending waves of 12 ogres at him but they hardly dent him and get killed about as fast as I can send them.  I could probably eventually win that way but it's slow.  

 

Perhaps not the most OP build, a cipher might help.

One of the new 5th-level chants gives you bonuses to accuracy and damage against beasts, this does include dragons. You can probably just use that chant and auto-attack her to death. The chant will also affect any ogres or ancient weapons you summon as well.

Edited February 18, 2016 by Wolken3156

[Boeroer]

Yep - it's like a dragon hunter chant.

[Seeders]

i dont see any of the new abilities (only level 12).  Do i need to start over, or just level up more?  

[Wolken3156]

i dont see any of the new abilities (only level 12).  Do i need to start over, or just level up more?  

The chant I was referring to is gotten at level 15.

[MaxQuest]

A mildly interesting thing about dragon chant is that it's dps is not really affected by the fact of grazing.

 

With default: 8s duration and 4s linger

At lvl 16, with Brisk Recitation and 20 INT, we have: 4s duration and 6s linger

 

on graze: 41.3 (slash and burn) dmg over 7.0s = 5.9dps

on hit: 53.3 (slash and burn) dmg over 10.0s = 5.35dps

 

So if you chant only that single chant, your dps actually increases if you graze

But yeah, if you run 2 or 3 alternating chants, it will be harder to keep the dot at 100% uptime (and at the same time without overlaping), unless you explicitly expect it to graze and also take a rank 2 chant (because of 3s duration).

Edited February 19, 2016 by MaxQuest

[Maxzero]

You can mix in one Paladin to remove immunities on big targets like Dragons.

 

Since damage song's stack both between Chanter's and on the same chanter the damage can be really high.

 

At -40% recite speed and 50% Int duration bonus (20 int which is easy to achieve) Dragon Thrash/Wail is a 4.8 recite time with a 6s linger. One chanter can actually have 1.2 seconds of TRIPLE stacking Dragon Thrash/Wail. They don't suppress each other.

 

This can easily be tested if you don't believe me.

[omgFIREBALLS]

Thanks so much for this!

 

I've played a lot of caster groups, but I always found they couldn't casually beat trash encounters, which I just want to blaze through and save micromanagement for bosses. So I moved on to melee-heavier groups with the pronepike and while they were fun, I realized what I really wanted was a tanky squadron that played for a slow, safe victory. And this is it. Four chanters, a paladin and a priest. Each of them pumping defenses and damage reduction, the chanters weaving Dragon Thrashed and protections; there are no easy targets in my party. And for trash encounters I can just throw some mastered spells with the priest, perhaps some invocations from the chanters if it lasts that long.

 

After noticing how much it suited me I started over as a Triple Crown attempt, which was my first such. Expert Mode is actually strangely liberating when you have a good feel for spell AoE size and know the important skill/stat checks; you don't need to worry about those and you are freed from "Should I really say THAT? What will people THINK of me?!"

 

And now I've beaten that! Even Frozen Crown. Killed all dragons to death, never backed down when prompted about high level scaling etc. Though admittedly, the Plan B of run away, stand at a distance and drown the baddies in ogres did feel cheap at times ^^

[Boeroer]

Congrats!

 

I even think that the paladin is not needed (personally). Sure, a bit of tankyness and Sacred Immolation is nice, but actually a cipher seems to be even better. A druid would also be neat, but since too many vancian casters tend to raise micro I would prefer the cipher on this one. Thing is the cipher + priest have an easy time to prepare enemy groups for maximum Dragon Thrashed damage. Stuck from Mental Binding is a very powerful debuff for Dragon Thrashed while the priest buffs accuracy. For trashy encounters just a Inspiring Radiance 1/encounter is fine. And for the nasty bosses you can always use your sweet Disintegration. And once you get Defensive Mindweb you build one chanter supertanky in terms of defense, give him defensive chants - and the rest gets retrained for maximum damage via Dragon Thrashed.

Also in the earlier game, before lvl 9, the cipher can make short work of trashy mobs via beams.

Edited September 17, 2017 by Boeroer

[Lampros]

Thanks so much for this!

 

I've played a lot of caster groups, but I always found they couldn't casually beat trash encounters, which I just want to blaze through and save micromanagement for bosses. So I moved on to melee-heavier groups with the pronepike and while they were fun, I realized what I really wanted was a tanky squadron that played for a slow, safe victory. And this is it. Four chanters, a paladin and a priest. Each of them pumping defenses and damage reduction, the chanters weaving Dragon Thrashed and protections; there are no easy targets in my party. And for trash encounters I can just throw some mastered spells with the priest, perhaps some invocations from the chanters if it lasts that long.

 

After noticing how much it suited me I started over as a Triple Crown attempt, which was my first such. Expert Mode is actually strangely liberating when you have a good feel for spell AoE size and know the important skill/stat checks; you don't need to worry about those and you are freed from "Should I really say THAT? What will people THINK of me?!"

 

And now I've beaten that! Even Frozen Crown. Killed all dragons to death, never backed down when prompted about high level scaling etc. Though admittedly, the Plan B of run away, stand at a distance and drown the baddies in ogres did feel cheap at times ^^

 

Don't you still need some CC? Or did you not read them at all, because the AoEs killed so quickly?

Edited September 17, 2017 by Lampros

[omgFIREBALLS]

I'm way too fond of Zealous Endurance and the Herald defensive aura for any party. I also tried Sure-Handed Ila + Rime And Frost... + Zealous Charge kiting and while that was quite powerful it was also quite tiresome. Plus, my paladin was a Goldpact Knight so her Liberating Exhortation (another ability I love) was extra good to use on my priest so she could buff more safely. I didn't even take Sacred Immolation as I needed neither more AoE damage nor more AoE healing. In fact, there was so much AoE healing going on that I lost a chanter twice to death. They heal each other's endurance so much that in a long losing fight they run out of health unless I manage to pull them out and give them a bow.

 

I didn't miss CC so much. Tough fights I would open with figurine summons while I buffed up and accumulated phrases. After that, time was on my side so to speak. The AI seems rather inclined to prioritize weak targets, rather than weighing ease of killing against importance of killing, so summons were always good fodder. Did not kill fast though (the chanters had 10 might), but outlasted like hell.

 

The group was royally awful at killing dragons however. The sky dragon took a long long time to kill and it was just crowding her with ogres that occasionally managed to graze her. I had to do that with the alpine dragon too but that might not have been needed if I hadn't lost my priest to hubris.

 

The group was all pale elves, I got them all a blunting belt, nearly all of them had +10 will/reflex/fortitude talents, all had weapon and shield style, most had deflection bonuses, they had heavy armor etc etc. Even the priest had a breastplate.

Edited September 17, 2017 by omgFIREBALLS

[Undesirable]

Why would dragons try to hunt whales when there is far more accessible prey on solid ground?

Edited September 17, 2017 by Undesirable

[Boeroer]

Actually "to whale" can also mean to hit or thrash somebody. Totally fits! That - and sea dragons...

[Lampros]

I'm way too fond of Zealous Endurance and the Herald defensive aura for any party. I also tried Sure-Handed Ila + Rime And Frost... + Zealous Charge kiting and while that was quite powerful it was also quite tiresome. Plus, my paladin was a Goldpact Knight so her Liberating Exhortation (another ability I love) was extra good to use on my priest so she could buff more safely. I didn't even take Sacred Immolation as I needed neither more AoE damage nor more AoE healing. In fact, there was so much AoE healing going on that I lost a chanter twice to death. They heal each other's endurance so much that in a long losing fight they run out of health unless I manage to pull them out and give them a bow.

 

I didn't miss CC so much. Tough fights I would open with figurine summons while I buffed up and accumulated phrases. After that, time was on my side so to speak. The AI seems rather inclined to prioritize weak targets, rather than weighing ease of killing against importance of killing, so summons were always good fodder. Did not kill fast though (the chanters had 10 might), but outlasted like hell.

 

The group was royally awful at killing dragons however. The sky dragon took a long long time to kill and it was just crowding her with ogres that occasionally managed to graze her. I had to do that with the alpine dragon too but that might not have been needed if I hadn't lost my priest to hubris.

 

The group was all pale elves, I got them all a blunting belt, nearly all of them had +10 will/reflex/fortitude talents, all had weapon and shield style, most had deflection bonuses, they had heavy armor etc etc. Even the priest had a breastplate.

 

Hmmm, the Sky Dragon is an easy fight though. What level did you tackle it on? And what kind of weaponry did your melees use? I think I will run a similarly sturdy group that you ran - except I'd go 2 Paladin and 2 Chanter or 1 Paladin and 3 Chanter. 2 front-line, 2 middle-line pikes, and back row Priest and Wizard.

[omgFIREBALLS]

I can't recall, but I think 11 or so. I knew from a standard PotD run with the same setup that the group would just be more or less permastunned if I tried meleeing her, so summon zerg was actually Plan A there. There must be something I don't know about avoiding her terminal stuns, but I hadn't intended to experiment on ToI, so. Given that the whole group had like 10 might and had shields on, prioritized defensive talents and equipment, they were beyond awful at punching through high damage reduction. That being said they outlasted other dragons (Adra, Alpine before I managed to get my priest knocked out, Llengrath's pets), and I'm sure I could have outlasted her too if I knew some way to avoid getting stunned repeatedly by her.

 

@Boeroer That's just making fun of the typo, it's "wailed"

Edited September 17, 2017 by omgFIREBALLS