"Glass Tsunami" - The Unbreakable Glass Cannon (preview fighter build)

[Braven]

Here is a build I have been thinking about trying for a solo play through on easy difficulty. The idea behind it is to ultimately abuse Triggered Immunity for tough end game boss fights while remaining a strong, high DPS fighter that just won't die throughout the game (most key items are available at the start of act 2). This goal is accomplished by having a maximum intelligence, minimum constitution and deflection, and lots of passive endurance regeneration. The low CON and RES help triggered immunity "trigger" (and other on-crit items) and the high INT ensures they last as long as possible. Intelligence also helps the duration of many other fighter abilities, which have been improved in recent patches. Most important, constant recovery benefits greatly since the duration was nerfed.

 

 

Class: fighter

Race: human (synergies well with the high intellect and low con)

 

Starting stats

STR: 11 - UPDATE: 20

CON: 3

DEX: 18

PER: 18 - UPDATE: 15

INT: 18

RES: 10 - UPDATE: 4

(Alternatively, RES can be raised to around ~10 and PER dropped by the same amount. This helps concentration, but hurts armor, boots, and triggered immunity activation. Also it goes against the "glass cannon" theme of the build. I suggest this only if you do not plan on getting any concentration boosting items)

 

Prioritize buffing STR and INT with items and rest bonuses, as those are most important. I suggest a +STR helmet (WM has a few good ones) and +2 INT armor enchant (For Sanguine Plate) since the other slots hold key items. Late game, consider the +4 INT ring (and a different enchant for Scars armor). More INT late game is important since not all your healing scale with level and you will soon have access to the ultimate fighter ability, triggered immunity, which needs all the INT it can get.

 

Abilities/Talents

Constant Recovery (a)

Knock Down

Two-weapon Fighting

Disiplined Barrage (+20 accuracy)

Weapon Focus - Noble

Vigorous Defense (+20 all defenses)

Vulnerable Attack

Armored Grace (+20 speed)

Rapid Recovery (!)

Weapon Specialization - Noble

Weapon Mastery - Noble

Unbroken (!)

Outlander's Frenzy (change out of Sanquine armor now, since it does not stack)

Unbending (or sundering blows for dragon killing or Charge for back row caster killing)

UPDATE: wound binding (+40% health) (!). Yes, it is a real talent and works in battle.

Triggered Immunity (!)

Aspirant's Mark (or extra item slots, if soloing)

 

Primary weapons (all three have +speed, obtainable early, and are "noble")

Sword of daenysis rapier

March Steel dagger

Spell tongue rapier

UPDATE: late game, you could retrain and use a better late game weapon and double it with wax box. Maybe double "Strike Hard" war hammers or vent picks.

 

Armor:

Sanguine Plate (more speed and survival bonus is also nice. Also available pretty early.)

UPDATE: late game, switch to: He wears many Scars

 

Other Key items:

Shod-in-Faith boots (!)

Update: belt of bountiful healing (+15 heal multiplier) OR belt of chimes (+25 concentration)

Glittering gauntlets (for the concentration buff, and because it is just powerful in general)

cloak of the tireless defender (!)

 

Key skills:

14 survival (for third tier. Heal Multiplier rest bonus). - for this reason, I suggest "colonist" background)

 

Other Strategies:

Start with Outlanders Frenzy to lower deflection in order to trigger Sanguine and Shod-in-Faith. After they trigger, use Vigorous Defense. Knockdown and Charge is great for locking down enemy casters, who have low Fort. Using barrage before knockdown can help get a longer prone with a crit.

Edited March 1, 2016 by Braven

[Braven]

Turns out the boots don't stack with constant recovery (UPDATE: they actually do seem to stack), which heals for nearly as much late game, so I am looking for new boots. The fenwalker boots look like a great alternative since they on paper offer massive protection to some of the worst ailments, and I tried them out, but they seem bugged right now. Instead of reducing the affected debuff time by 3 seconds, they make it so it never ends (never ending paralyze is a death sentence). Maybe that happens when the reduction makes it a negative duration? (a glancing hit)

 

I did find an interesting belt early on which provides a huge passive concentration boost. The whole reason I didn't completely dump resolve was to avoid being constantly interupted. With the belt, I have retrained all resolve to additional STR. Along with the newly improved rapid recovery talent, constant recovery heals for around 14.5 endurance at level 8 for the entire battle (with high STR/INT), which actually makes a low con fighter quite hardy now. But the insane thing is stacking healing multipliers on top. There is a really early amulet that provides +25% healing. Then there are the 20/40/60% survival resting bonuses. I am not sure yet if they all work with constant recovery yet, but that could mean over 30 endurance passive regeneration!

Edited February 28, 2016 by Braven

[Boeroer]

Cloak of the Tireless Defender plus Trollhide Belt (or a regenerating armor) stack with Constant & Rapid recovery. Add a Belt of Bountiful Healing and Survival: Bonus Healing Factor and you are nigh unkillable

 

But I would recommend higher MIG because this means more healing.

Edited February 28, 2016 by Boeroer

[Boeroer]

Chanter's Ancient Memory and Beloved Spirits also stack with this by the way.

[Braven]

Thanks for the advice Boeroer. I thought about the tireless defender cloak, but I already had an amulet of +25% healing boost, which resulted in about the same healing gain. However, if the cloak boosted the "base" endurance, that could be very interesting since it would boost existing benefits of STR/survival/belt, which are additive bonuses. Also, I am not sure if the amulet stacks with the belt or survival bonuses, but the cloak should. I will do some testing and post the results.

 

I retrained to 20 might (18+human+background), and just dropped PER to 15, which is still plenty good. I just hope I don't run out of health! I have been wanting to try out the little known "bind wounds" utility talent that gives +40% health (I think it can be used in battle). Could be a huge boon for ultra-high regeneration fighters.

[DreamWayfarer]

I retrained to 20 might (18+human+background), and just dropped PER to 15, which is still plenty good. I just hope I don't run out of health! I have been wanting to try out the little known "bind wounds" utility talent that gives +40% health (I think it can be used in battle). Could be a huge boon for ultra-high regeneration fighters.

Wound Binding. Did you just make Wound Binding look like a potentialy useful talent?

[Braven]

To test the regeneration (with rapid and cloak), I went to the "Druid proving ground" near Dyford village at level 8. I rested right before and choose the 40% multiplier. Normally, those Druids absolutely slaughter me, if solo and no summons. Despite Lightning bolt after lightning bolt striking our hero, he did did not fall. He eventually died, but it was from an empty health pool, not lack of endurance. So... I think wound binding does indeed have potential. I don't even know what the animation for it looks like, but it will be fun to find out if it is viable.

[Boeroer]

Isn't it so that Field Triage works in combat and Wound Binding doesn't? But Wound Binding gives you more health? Can't remember - never used it.  

[Braven]

I don't think anyone has ever used them. .

 

According to the description, the only difference between the two is that Field Triage targets an ally, while wound binding targets self only.

 

Also, I think shod-in-faith also stacks. I am seeing four different green numbers tick. The endurance regeneration is insane.

[Braven]

I tested wound binding. It does indeed work in battle. It is Over 13 seconds, so best used at about half health. Also, if that wasn't enough endurance regeneration, I unbending also seems to stack. It was showing well over 300 endurance for me during the Druid fight, while getting beat down with stun-lock Lightning.

Edited February 28, 2016 by Braven

[Boeroer]

Sure it stacks.

Edited February 28, 2016 by Boeroer

[Boeroer]

By the way I did a fighter build that tried to abuse self healing in 2.03: The Engineer

 

Thematically different - but the self healing part might be interesting.

 

Edit: Pallegina's Breastplate or He Carries Many Scars might be good items for your build: if health drops below 25%, your DR will suddenly be +50%. 

Edited February 28, 2016 by Boeroer

[Braven]

Thanks, I'll check that out. The scars armor looks interesting for late game. With Durgan Steel, the Sanguine won't be needed for max attack speed anymore.

 

The ultra-healing strategy would actually work much better with a higher con build - just for the larger health pool, and to better handle burst damage. But... The main goal of this play through is abuse triggered immunity, so I will stick with the 3 con. Bigger health pool won't matter if you are immune to damage.

[Boeroer]

And your Fighting Spirit will be triggered sooner with low CON.

[Braven]

True, that actually happens a lot in tough fights as the crit that triggers the boots often momentarily drops endurance below half. High INT ensures it lasts the whole battle. I think I will rename this eventual build "The Unbreakable". I think the flavor description text of "Cloak of the Tireless Defender" describes this hero best with the last lines:

 

"When survivors returned to see what was left of Mercy Vale, this cloak was the only item that had escaped the flames. Completely undamaged, it draped the corpse of a warrior who had fallen in the middle of town. The body was so covered in wounds that identification was impossible".

 

That is what it would take to bring this guy down.

Edited February 28, 2016 by Braven

[DreamWayfarer]

I think that Unbroken is too generic. How about "Glass Tsunami", since it is a glass cannon that may as well be made of water, considering how pointless is to try to hurt him. Or perhaps "Wolverine", if you aren't above Marvel references.

[Boeroer]

"The Roly Poly"

[Braven]

Thanks for all of the suggestions. I have updated the build description to reflect the changes. I think it is much better now. Let me know if you have other thoughts. I am not too familiar with all of the new expansion items, but the glittering gloves I read about on the forum look like they could also help fix the low resolve concentration problem (and they seems very powerful in general).

Edited February 29, 2016 by Braven

[DreamWayfarer]

Awesome! I will respec my Fighter hireling(whom I was already playing with 16 INT before WM2) into this build after I unlock the necessary items and abilities.

 

And nice to see you liked my "Glass Tsunami" suggestion .

[Braven]

I do! That name makes it sound much more impressive and I like the unstoppable despite fragile appearance analogy.

 

I hope you enjoy trying it out.

 

This build is also very damaging, particularly against lower DR enemies. They just get butchered by the extremely fast attacks, high might and accuracy, and the fighter's instant cast buffs, which is quite satisifying. Even without Durgan steel, there is almost no recovery bar while wearing plate armor and It does not rely on potions or per-rest powers so you can use all your powers in every battle, without regrets. Of course, you can always use something else like a soul bound weapon, crit weapon (since the Tsunami has high accuracy), or two-hander; whatever fits your style the best. Weapon choice is not important for the core tactics and it can easily be adjusted to accommodate personal preference.

Edited February 29, 2016 by Braven

[Braven]

By the way I did a fighter build that tried to abuse self healing in 2.03: The Engineer

 

Thematically different - but the self healing part might be interesting.

 

Edit: Pallegina's Breastplate or He Carries Many Scars might be good items for your build: if health drops below 25%, your DR will suddenly be +50%.

 

I totally misread those items as triggering based on ENDURANCE instead of HEALTH until you corrected me in a different post. Mind is blown. That could make those items much nicer than I originally though. Does the effect go away if your health increases above 25%? If not, that would make the "binding wounds" talent even better by effectively increasing the +50% DR buff to about 55% of your health instead of just 25%. Over 100% improvement. Edited March 1, 2016 by Braven

[Boeroer]

The DR bonus only applies while your health is below 25%. As soon as you reach 25% or higher it vanishes. At least it used to be so. I didn't test this for a long, long time.

And it's only the armor's DR that is taken into account and gets multiplied by 1.5, not your whole DR. Again: it used to be that way - no idea about the present state.

With a plate that's quite nice - but still a bit situational. For your build it might be a good synergy though.

Edited March 1, 2016 by Boeroer

[Braven]

Did you ever specifically test it with "bind wounds"? Is there any other way to raise health, besides camping?

 

I did some more testing and it seems the +25% healing multiplier amulet (obtainable for free immediately in ACT 1) is strictly better in all situations than Cloak of the tireless defender. Since they use the same item slot, I now recommend the amulet over the cloak, unless you want a companion to have it instead. As an added Bonus, it has +5 reflex if you need it.

Edited March 1, 2016 by Braven

[Dorftek]

Interesting build, have u tried this on Hard?

[Boeroer]

I tested it a long time ago. As far as I remember I tested it with potions of Infuse with Vital Essence.

 

There's a Belt of Bountiful Healing that does the same. It's a fairly common random find. If you have that AND the cloak it's the best combination I guess. Of course one could argument that a blunting belt is still better. But in terms of regeneration I think that will be the maximum (besides raising MIG and INT).

 

So, for maximum regeneration you would need: Constant Recovery + Rapid Recovery + Cloak of the Tireless Defender + Belt of Bountiful Healing + He Carries Many Scars + Survival Bonus.

 

The only thing in this list that comes late is the plate armor. That thing is like it's made for your build.

Edited March 1, 2016 by Boeroer